Press Release

Testing Chevrolet's zero-emission fuel cell Equinox

Chevy will tap 100 volunteer drivers for Project Driveway, testing the hydrogen-powered Chevy Equinox.Wieck The Equinox takes five to 10 minutes to fuel up.

Stephen Marlin, driver relationship manager for GMs Project Driveway, is not trying to sell me an SUV, but Im getting excited anyhow over the Hydrogen-powered Chevy Equinox we re checking out in a parking lot in Ardsley, N.Y. Clearly as jazzed as I am, Marlin kvells: When you pass guys in Priuses, you can thumb your nose at em because even those cars burn fuel. This car emits nothing.

He is not kidding. When I peek under the chassis, I see there arent any exhaust pipes. Project Driveway involves 100 hydrogen-powered cars and eligible drivers who will operate the vehicles for three months in California, the New York metropolitan area and Washington, D.C., then report their impressions.
GM is not handing out the vehicles to just anyone who applies, though.

We do a nifty background check, says Marlin. Looking for DUI, anything untoward. We do not want anyone who just wants a free car. They also need to be close to the fuel source. We have two — one in White Plains, one in Ardsley.

We climb in. I turn the key and let go. The Equinox makes a series of mechanical sounds reminiscent of the robot from Lost In Space, and off we drive. The brakes are mushy, but the ride is quietly smooth — though not too powerful.

How many cylinders? I ask.
None, Marlin replies. The configuration of the engine
eliminates the need for them.

We arrive in White Plains, turn off on a side street and pull up to a fenced-off area GM shares with a garbage-hauling business. I park next to a series of skinny tanks.

They make the hydrogen right here, Marlin says, which eliminates the need to cart gas in tanker trucks.
I gas up (or is that Hyd up?) under Marlins direction. This involves two hoses, one connecting to a male outlet under the rear license plate to relay information to the pumps and another to deliver fuel. I sniff the hose before attaching it. Its odorless.
The hose locks into place.
We wait for the tank to fill.
And wait.

It takes five to 10 minutes, Marlin explains. We open the hood and I examine the engine, a rectangular, boxy-looking thing. We have driven 10 or so miles, but Marlin tells me to touch the casing. I do. Its cool.

Thoroughly impressed, I drive us back to base and ask Marlin if I can have his number to call him with follow up questions, forgetting that I already had called him twice that morning.
Its the lack of fumes going to your head, he says.