Bloomberg: GM, Honda Fuel-Cell Plans Frustrated by Hydrogen-Station Delay
By Alan Ohnsman
April 3 (Bloomberg) — General Motors Corp. and Honda Motor Co. said delays by energy companies in adding hydrogen stations in California threaten to hold back the market for cars powered by the clean fuel.
California said last week that the six biggest automakers must sell 7,500 hydrogen fuel-cell and battery-electric cars between 2012 and 2014 under a program to push “zero-emission vehicle technology.” The state lacks a complementary regulation requiring fuel companies to open hydrogen stations, said Larry Burns, GM’s vice president of research and development.
“To not drive the infrastructure equally aggressively to marry up with that is a little perplexing,” Burns said in an interview yesterday in Sacramento, California. “We have not accomplished anything if the auto industry builds 7,500 ZEV products in 2012 through 2014 and they sit in driveways and parking lots.” because of a lack of fuel stations.
GM, Honda, Toyota Motor Corp., Ford Motor Co., Nissan Motor Co. and Chrysler LLC are pursuing hydrogen as an alternative to gasoline because fuel-cells cut carbon emissions linked to global warming and help reduce dependence on imported oil. GM and Honda said they are addressing cost and durability issues, bringing hydrogen vehicles closer to market.
Currently, 24 stations are open, according to the California Fuel-Cell Partnership, though most are not accessible to the public. Some 204 fuel-cell vehicles operate in California, according to the state.
Duncan Macleod, vice president of Royal Dutch Shell’s Shell Hydrogen, told attendees at the National Hydrogen Association conference in Sacramento yesterday that the company expects only about five customers to fuel up on hydrogen per day at each such facility, compared with 2,000 customers at a standard U.S. gasoline station.
GM is the world’s largest automaker. Honda is first to lease fuel-cell autos to U.S. customers.
To contact the reporter on this story: Alan Ohnsman in Los Angeles at [email protected]
Last Updated: April 3, 2008 10:58 EDT
This website and sisters royaldutchshellplc.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.
Royal Dutch Shell conspired directly with Hitler, financed the Nazi Party, was anti-Semitic and sold out its own Dutch Jewish employees to the Nazis. Shell had a close relationship with the Nazis during and after the reign of Sir Henri Deterding, an ardent Nazi, and the founder and decades long leader of the Royal Dutch Shell Group. His burial ceremony, which had all the trappings of a state funeral, was held at his private estate in Mecklenburg, Germany. The spectacle (photographs below) included a funeral procession led by a horse drawn funeral hearse with senior Nazis officials and senior Royal Dutch Shell directors in attendance, Nazi salutes at the graveside, swastika banners on display and wreaths and personal tributes from Adolf Hitler and Reichsmarschall, Hermann Goring. Deterding was an honored associate and supporter of Hitler and a personal friend of Goring.
Deterding was the guest of Hitler during a four day summit meeting at Berchtesgaden. Sir Henri and Hitler both had ambitions on Russian oil fields. Only an honored personal guest would be rewarded with a private four day meeting at Hitler’s mountain top retreat.
IN JULY 2007, MR BILL CAMPBELL (ABOVE, A RETIRED GROUP AUDITOR OF SHELL INTERNATIONAL SENT AN EMAIL TO EVERY UK MP AND MEMBER OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS: 
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A head-cut image of Alfred Donovan (now deceased) appears courtesy of The Wall Street Journal.
