PSFK Drives a Hydrogen Chevrolet Equinox

This past Monday, GM invited PSFK to take a NYC test drive of their Fuel Cell based Chevrolet Equinox. We saw the vehicle a few weeks earlier at Ecofest. GM has produced a fleet of these special vehicles for a program called “Project Driveway”. The program will be the first large-scale market test of fuel cell electric vehicles anywhere.

The Chevrolet Equinox Fuel Cell electric vehicle is a zero-gas, zero-emissions vehicle. It’s powered by a mix of hydrogen gas and electricity. Hydrogen is converted to electricity and used to provide propulsion. It’s exhaust consists of oxygen and water. The nickel-metal hydride battery pack also stores energy from a regenerative braking system. So every time you press the brake, you are generating power.

So what’s it like to actually drive one of these vehicles? We were very curious. Would it handle completely different and make all kinds of Star Trek noises? Would we struggle to keep pace with midday Manhattan traffic?

The most shocking thing about driving the Equinox is that you quickly forget you are driving a hydrogen/electric powered vehicle. But that is exactly the kind of experience GM is looking to talk about. Really the only thing we noticed was more torque when you pull away, the electric motor is more efficient at torque transfer than a conventional transmission. Also it’s really quiet. You keep expecting the motor to rev when you give it some gas but all you hear is the sound of the tires rolling along the pavement. It’s not anything radically noticeable.

We did a loop from the Meatpacking District up the West Side highway to 96th Street and then back down. The Equinox handled stop and go traffic without any difficulty. On the highway, we got up to 70mph without any drama. GM says the Equinox can reach a top speed of around 100mph. We didn’t notice it straining in any way to make it to 70 or to sustain that speed. We late braked for a few traffic lights and the stopping response was good. The conditions were dry and this is a front wheel drive vehicle so it remains to be seen if the regenerative system affects the handling in any way in poor weather.

GM intended to make the Equinox as easy for drivers of traditional cars to transition to as possible. I can say what they’ve achieved is pretty remarkable. All the normal things you’d expect to find in the interior are there. The only giveaways are the large kilowatt gauge replacing the tach and a few special screens on the central display allowing you to monitor the engine. The finish was all production grade even though each one of these vehicles is essentially hand built.

Customers in suburban Los Angeles, New York City and Washington, D.C. will begin driving more than 100 Chevrolet Equinox Fuel Cell vehicles this January. A variety of drivers – from regular families to celebrities – will have free use of an Equinox and the hydrogen fuel it needs to make electricity on-board. The average family will get one of the vehicles for three months and be required to report their experience to Chevrolet. The hope is that these markets will be the easiest to build up hydrogen infrastructure that can later support actual sales of the vehicles to customers. As it stands refueling is limited to only certain sites within each area that can deliver the volume of hydrogen the vehicle needs to operate over a reasonable range.

You can find out more about “Project Driveway” here.

Thanks to Kathleen Hamilton and Alain Guiboux from GM