GM Reinvents The Automobile: Chevrolet Sequel Is A Better, Cleaner, Petroleum-Free Solution

General Motors today announced a driveable version of the most technologically advanced automobile ever built – the Chevrolet Sequel, GM’s solution to provide the world with a cleaner, petroleum-free vehicle that is better in nearly every way. “General Motors is proving that advanced technology can remove the automobile from the environmental debate and reduce our dependence on petroleum," said Larry Burns, GM vice president, research & development and strategic planning. “Chevy Sequel clearly shows that our vision for the future of the automobile is real and sustainable.” Sequel was introduced in 2005 at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit. It is the first vehicle in the world to successfully integrate a hydrogen fuel cell propulsion system with a broad menu of advanced technologies such as steer-and brake-by-wire controls, wheel hub motors, lithium-ion batteries and a lightweight aluminum structure. It uses clean, renewable hydrogen as a fuel and emits only water vapor. “Sequel fundamentally changes the DNA of today’s automobiles … exchanging an internal combustion engine, petroleum and mechanical systems for fuel cell propulsion, hydrogen and electrical systems,” Burns said. “In Sequel, GM has created a real vehicle that promises to excite customers and lead to long-term, sustainable automotive transportation.” Compared to other fuel cell vehicles, Sequel has an unprecedented range of 300 miles between fill-ups and spirited acceleration, attaining 60 mph in just 10 seconds. Sequel also has all the amenities one would expect in a premium, five-passenger crossover SUV, including impressive styling, a spacious interior and an all-aluminum body and structure designed to meet all applicable Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards. It has a low-profile, skateboard-like chassis that houses all of its main propulsion, braking and chassis components. “Sequel is a vehicle that is better in nearly every way – quicker, more sure-footed, easier to handle, easier to build and better looking, while being safe and emitting only water vapor,” said Burns. Other benefits include: Unequaled control on snow and ice, or uneven terrain 70-percent more torque for unparalleled acceleration Shorter braking distances Ability to “talk” to other vehicles about traffic congestion or road conditions “Four years ago, our chairman and CEO, Rick Wagoner, challenged us to completely rethink the automobile,” Burns said. “With the Chevy Sequel, we have now met Rick’s challenge by reinventing the automobile and making it real. We’ve proven a new DNA for vehicles that is viable for the future.”

Lexus - 9/11/2006 10:45:24 PM

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This is old news, the Japan has already been testing a hydrogen fuel cell vechicle years ago. So when will GM bring this to reality? But I must give them prop for trying so hard;)

Lexus

lexusis350 - 9/11/2006 11:42:17 PM

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Honda has already produced a hydrogen car. It's too expensive to market though. I think they've only sold one for 1.3 million dollars. Maybe it was more. I can't remember but they sold it as a test vehicle.

awsomeaudi - 9/12/2006 12:58:13 AM

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pfft i think they should make a in home system like honda does for their civic gx slow seller and expensive but you could own your own gas station

EvoAudi - 9/12/2006 1:06:15 AM

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bmw's been testing since '97

chewy - 9/12/2006 1:20:09 AM

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Where will we get the hydrogen. If we use electricity to make it, that would be relatively pointless as we can put that electricity into batteries. Right now the hydrogen fuel cell is no better at energy per volume than batteries probably. Maybe in the future it will make sense.

jasongoudie - 9/12/2006 8:23:44 AM

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I applaud new technology. But this is another pandering attempt at capitalist hating environmentalists trying to get us away from that evil oil. Oil is renewable. Where do think hydrogen is going to come from??? You think it just apprears out of thin air??? Sure its by-product is H20 but how are you going to make it?? Right now the only processes available require more energy (=pollution) wasted than it takes to produce oil. But it is trendy and popular with anti-capitalist types that want to save baby ducks and fish from oil spills!!!

When are we going to get past the hype and the biggest hoax ever perpetrated on the world (Global Warming)!

answer - 9/12/2006 1:05:04 PM

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That's cool if that is what you believe, but why don't you go hop in your Hummer H2 and drive over some baby ducks instead of posting stuff like that here.

We all enjoy a laugh, but I don't think that was the intention of your post however.

jasongoudie - 9/12/2006 1:50:35 PM

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Sorry, I don't have a Hummer H2. But your popular argument of the Hummer is evil is so cliche. Did you know that the Hummer gets the same gas mileage as some minivans and most trucks!!! Ohh the horror. The SUV is so evil!! See my arguments are based on fact not trendy European Hollywood socialist garbage. I actually Drive a Lexus GS and a Toyota Sequoia. Yes both have V8's. Yes that will be me in my Giant gas guzzling SUV that you see in your rearview mirror before I run your crappy Ford Festiva over. Good thing you get so good of gas mileage or else I might feel guilty about contributing to Global Warming... Oh I mean Global Cooling... Oh I mean Global Climate Change. Oh I don't know which cliche we are supposed to use right now.

answer - 9/12/2006 2:42:32 PM

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I am sorry, but it sounds as if your driving ability matches your intellect. If you cannot safely drive your Sequoia without colliding with whatever Ford Festiva happens to be in your way, I suggest purchasing a smaller vehicle.

Additionally I believe most, if not all, minivans do better than the single digit mpg figures in city driving of the Hummer H2. Stuff like that makes the Hummer a target of SUV criticism. Using what appears to be the cheapest plastic currently in production on the vehicle doesn't help it either.

It's not your lack of concern about the environmental/political issues regarding gasoline engines that I find amusing. Rather it is your seemingly attitude of disdain for future technologies.

Do microwave ovens and cellular phones get you as fired up as potential future energy sources do?

Rupert - 9/12/2006 3:03:50 PM

+2 Boost

jason, global warming is not a myth.
temperatures have dramtically increased in the last 100 years.

the h2 gets terrible gas mileage, no minivan gets 4 mpg.

OIL IS NOT RENEWABLE
get that into your thick head past your heavily blinkered eyes.
hydrogen is made my electrolysing water with a high electric current, the same way we extract aluminium from bauxite.
oil is made from it being pumped out of the ground, put on a ship, taken to a refinery and being changed into various oil products.
WE ARE RUNNING OUT OF OIL.
fact.
we are using it far more than it is being replaced (it takes millions of years).

and here we go again with anti-capitalists!

why do you (and quite a few americans) think everybody who disagrees with "american values" (driving a damn stupid car) is a communist?
seriously, get out of the 80s.

"See my arguments are based on fact not trendy European Hollywood socialist garbage"
huh? WHAT FACTS???? what european socialist garbage?
suvs get worse gas mileage than other cars, becuase they are taller and have bluffer fronts.
simple. and in america, you put them on truck chassis, so they're really heavy.

answer, it's not his lack of concern that's funny, it's his sheer ignorance.
agent 001, get rid of jasongoudie!

Rupert - 9/12/2006 3:06:33 PM

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and biggest hoax? (global warming)

you are a frigging idiot.
seriously, IQ of what, 65?

jasongoudie - 9/12/2006 4:08:03 PM

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Look here you Al Gore lovers!! I have no disdain for new technologies. I do however hate it when someone presents it as, "it will save the world from Global Warming". Which in the case of hydrogen it will not save the world from pollution or Global Warming; still hasn't been proven.

As for Gas mileage [estimates] lets look at a few vehicles and try to dispell the single digit myth. Remember this a 4WD vehicle!!

Hummer H2 EPA City 16 Hwy 20 (4WD)
Chrysler Town & Country EPA City 18 Hwy 25 (minivan)
Chevy Uplander EPA City 17 Hwy 23 (minivan)
Honda Oddessey EPA City 19 Hwy 25 (minivan)
Toyota 4 Runner EPA City 16 Hwy 19 (4WD)
Range Rover Sport EPA City 13 Hwy 18 (4WD)

Ok I can't do anymore this is getting to boring. But as you can see the "Hummer" does not deserve the SUV bashing that you are putting on it. In no way am I defending GM. I think their cars are crap. But this smut of non facts has to be disputed.

As for you rupert I thought you said oil wasn't renewable but later on in your thread you said that it was??? Did you know that 2.7 billion gallons of oil leak from the ocean floor every year. Needless to say we have enough oil for many years to come and by then their will be a new technology or solution which I would love to see. But people have to buy it not be forced into it by scare tactics (ie..Global Warming, SUV Bashing, etc..)

The current technology to produce Hydrogen on a mass scale will pollute more than oil does now so all you are doing is shifting the pollution around and thus my anti-capitalism comments!!

Blah, Blah, Blah. I can't waste anymore of my time on you two.

P.S. Liberalism is a Mental Disorder and it should be treated by a healthcare professional!!

jasongoudie - 9/12/2006 4:24:23 PM

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Also if you like Global Warming so much why don't you read the info below and do some fact checking!!

TIME article of 1974 in which scientists are promulgating the fear of another ICE AGE. In that article, the crazy weather patterns -- droughts, floods, fluctuating high and low temperatures, etc. are explained by an alleged drop in temperatures worldwide.

Then, just 30 years later, in March, 2006 TIME's cover article titled, "Be Worried, be Very Worried" blamed the same crazy weather patterns on scientific "evidence" that GLOBAL WARMING is about to destroy the world. In that article, the author claimed that scientists had been warning about the warming threat for "decades". Okay, guys, which is it? ICE AGE or GLOBAL WARMING? True climate change is a very, very slow but steady process.

Oh I just remembered what ever happened to the hole in the ozone that was going to fry our skin when we walked outside!!

answer - 9/12/2006 4:28:42 PM

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1. Your're funny.
2. Al Gore sucks.
3. What mysterious "new technology or solution" or you expecting?

Rupert - 9/12/2006 5:39:03 PM

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al gore? whos he? (non american here)
oil doesn't count as renewable, as it takes literally millions of years to replenish.
liberalism? do you want to live in a dictatorship? where you can't say anything bad about your leader? because that is the opposite. liberalism ios good, but the neo cons (who support guns, stupid thing) make you guys hate it. americans pride themsleves on their freedom, but then hate liberism. i really don't understand it. my political views have nothing to do with concern for the environment, if anything i'm conservative. i'm not american, but i'm sure that the hummer doesn't have epa fuel economy, as it is so huge and heavy. it is a very pointless vehicle.
here is a graph of temperature changes in the last 120 years.
http://yosemite.epa.gov/oar/globalwarming.nsf/content/Climate.html
as you can see, it rose much more rapidly in the last 2 years.
i would like to believe that global warming "doesn't exist" but i can't really. BUT i do think it is weird that the top of our planet is covered in ice, and the middle in desert, but when it evens out and the ice goes, that is like the most erribe thing ever.
personally i don't think cars are the culprits here, or suvs, as the car industry has got soo much cleaner in the last 10 years, never mind the last 50. but the way you put your point across (liberal environment commies etc) put me right off, as to accuse someone who cares about the environment of being a communist is very strange.
put your point across better without political views (they really don't affect this argument), then i'll listen.

lexusis350 - 9/12/2006 5:54:37 PM

+1 Boost

Answer-
Al Gore does suck. But don't tell him that, after all, he invented the internet...LOL!

85bmw745i - 9/12/2006 7:32:16 PM

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As a former meteorologist I can say that hydrogens emissions of h2o will do nothing but create rain and thunderstorms if they become the next thing in transportation. imagine a place like california and imagine half of the cars on the road being hydrogen immagine how much moisture will be pumped into the atmosphere, especially in the hot weather. rain all of the time with thunderstorms in warm and hot weather. next thing you know global climate shift. of course this will be many years after, considering hydrogen takes over and becomes more popular on the road than gasoline. Water vapor is what causes weather to hapen. heat pumps water vapor and all you need to do is reach the convective temp(temperature threshold to break the "caP" and allow the moisture to pump up into the atmosphere to condense and make clouds which produce rain and if there is enough energy, produce thunderstorms, or a low pressure system, or any trigger to get the moisture up into the uper atmosphere. water from the tail pipe equals climate shift, big time. global warming won't compare to this.

85bmw745i - 9/12/2006 8:09:30 PM

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All that global warming , Ice age is BS. the earth has had climatic shifts in the past an will continue to do so in the future. Te dinosaurs didn't have cars or SUV/s and bam ice age. what explanation do you have for that? there was no poution back then. Fact, earth goes theough climatge changes, and will forever do so over time, Oil or no oil. Of course if we all drove hydrogen cars we would force a premature one. water vapor is what makes weather, not oil and aeresol ( which by the way can't make it to the ozone anyways, because water vapor can't even go that high before condensing at some point befor it ever reaches that height.

jasongoudie - 9/12/2006 10:46:14 PM

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Still no facts Rupert!! Your entire thread is based on emotion (ie.. trendy debate) and not facts. You dismissed the proof of fuel economy of Hummer. Your report shows me nothing.

Prove Global Warming to me.

Any reports or papers you show to me proving Global Warming I will show you ten disproving it. If you look at the major backers of Global Warming and the people who fund them you will see the real proof (ie.. socialists and communists that hate capitalism). I didn't bring politics into this the article and some of the posts did. I am just correcting the propaganda.

Have a nice Day!!

P.S. Quote from Ronald Reagan "The ten most terrifying words in the english language are... I'm from the government and I'm here to help you".

lexusis350 - 9/12/2006 11:16:13 PM

+1 Boost

85bmw740i-
I agree, there is no such thing as global warming. I think that the earth is getting hotter but not because of people or cars. But, gasoline will run out eventually and so there should be advances in technology to get another power source for vehicles.

lexusis350 - 9/13/2006 12:33:46 AM

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I'll move to Canada if that happens. Seriously.

Rupert - 9/13/2006 1:43:17 PM

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jason, enough with the communists!
why would they back global warming?
but i take the meteorologists words seriously.
golbal warming IS HAPPENING, but i don't think it is our fault. you give examples of the dinosaurs etc, you are right.
rising sealevels? often caused by sinking countries (england is getting lower, scotland higher because there used to be ice on scot land keeping it down, now it is gone it is tipping back.
anyway, why care? it's humans being selfish as usual. think about it, all the new animals that will develop for the new seas, and new weather.
sooo....we should drive more fuel efficient vehicles to save money and save oil, as that is running out.