War is a dirty business, but at least in terms of the environment, one could now do so Chevrolet featured military SUV study called Colorado ZH2 make a small contribution for a little more clean. The car drives with hydrogen and emits instead of black diesel smoke only water.
Fuel cell still sounds like a distant future, but in fact there are a few manufacturers who offer this technology, but in small numbers, in production vehicles. Among others at Hyundai and Toyota one believes in the future of the locally clean drive variant. The Chevrolet parent company General Motors obviously also, because the Colorado ZH2 is intended as a serious proposal for the US Army. However, for the carmaker, not the environmental idea was a driving force, but purely military tactical considerations.
For use in the war, the fuel cell is in the opinion of Chevrolet namely offer several advantages. This allows almost noiseless locomotion and position changes. Also with regard to the thermal signature, there are advantages because no heat engine works and no hot exhaust gases. Viewed through infrared devices, vehicles with combustion engines stand out very clearly from their surroundings.
From the electric drive but there are other pluses. The high and immediately available torque of the motors can be helpful when driving off-road. In addition, the fuel cell can be used to provide a power supply even in remote areas without infrastructure. The power generated by the stack can charge the on-board battery module, which in turn has external sockets.
With a US military research facility, General Motors has developed the Colorado ZH2. For the coming year, the carmaker has announced a one-year field test, in which the benefits of this technique is practically determined.
(Mario Hommen / SP-X)