GM rolls past 1 million miles in fuel-cell demo

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — General Motors Co. is now 1 million miles into its fuel-cell experiment, and company officials say having everyday people drive a test fleet of pollution-free cars has convinced them they are on the right track.

The automaker on Friday said it passed the 1 million-miles-driven mark in its fuel cell Chevrolet Equinox vehicles, with about 5,000 people rotating in and out of more than 100 cars over the past 25 months.

“They’ll tell you that after the first week, they pretty much forget it’s a fuel cell car, which indicates to us that we have accomplished our goal of making the fuel cell transparent to the consumer,” said Daniel O’Connell, director of fuel cell commercialization at GM’s research and development offices in Honeoye Falls, near Rochester.

“They get in the car and drive it like they’ve always driven their cars, and that really tells me that fuel cells are closer than most people would believe,” he said.

Supporters see the fuel cell becoming a mainstream, eco-friendly alternative to petroleum-powered cars within the next decade.