GM Finds One Besides Death and Taxes That's Inevitable - Car Crashes
By John O'Dell March 18, 2010Tiny Fuel Cell Fleet's Had Several, Including World's First FCEV Vs FCEV Smash Up
Slide from a GM presentation about its ongoing fuel cell development program shows three of the Chevrolet Equinox FCEVs that have been involved in crashes during the two-year program. Only 119 of the cars have been put on the road, and two were in the same collision.
It's been a joke for as long as there have been cars on the world's roads: Put just a few of them into operation and their drivers will ultimately find a way of running into one another.
That certainly seems to be the case with General Motors' Chevrolet Equinox Fuel-Cell Electric Vehicles (FCEVs).
The company's put 119 into operation in the U.S. over the past two years in a program called Project Driveway. About 6,000 people have been selected to get the cars for varying periods - usually two months.
And so far, five of them have been in accidents - a rate of almost 20 percent.
In at least one case, we're told, the accident involved two GM fuel cell vehicles - the world's first FCEV vs FCEV collision.
Details weren't provided except that the crash involved a pair of Eqinox FCEVs being used in a photo session in Germany in 2008 and was the result of driver error.
One good thing about the fuel cell crashes is that no serious injuries have occurred.
Another is that even in the worst of the crashes - an Equinox FCEV on the East Coast was accordion-folded between an out-of-control pickup that smashed into it from the rear and a city bus that stopped it from moving forward - no safety problems developed, said Charlie Freese, head of GM's fuel cell programs.
The hydrogen tanks in all five vehicles remained intact, high voltage wiring didn't come loose and flop around threatening to electrocute people, no fires started and no explosions occurred.
Good news, even it it did come from some mildly embarrassing circumstances.
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"The company's put 119 into operation in the U.S. over the past two years in a program called Project Driveway. About 6,000 people have been selected to get the cars for varying periods - usually two months.
And so far, five of them have been in accidents - a rate of almost 20 percent."
5 out of 119 is 20%?? Math was never your best suject I'm guessing.
Try roughly 4.2 percent.
first - Actually, I'm fairly decent with basic math, that must have been the result of a temporary brain outtage. But I do have to admit that proofreading was never my best subject. Thanks for catching the goof. It's been fixed.
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