Editorial: Henderson’s fuel cell 10X cost comments are out of context

Filed under: EV/Plug-in, Hybrid, Hydrogen, GM, AutoblogGreen Exclusive

The other day we reported on an interview with General Motors CEO Fritz Henderson published in the Washington Post. While most of the discussion focused on the bailout and bankruptcy, from the perspective of this site, the main items of interest were Henderson’s responses to questions relating the to the cost of the Chevy Volt and hydrogen fuel cells. Much has been made of Henderson saying that the Chevy Equinox Fuel Cell used for the Project Driveway program cost 10 times the Volt’s approximately $40,000 price.

The problem here is that Henderson’s numbers are taken out of context and mean nothing in and of themselves. This is a total apples to oranges comparison. The Volt is expected to carry a sticker price of somewhere around $40,000 at launch. That price will be reduced for customers by a federal tax credit of $7,500 along with whatever state incentives are available. However, that does not necessarily reflect the cost to build the extended range EV, which will likely be somewhat higher than $40k at launch. More important to this discussion is the fact that the Volt is also designed and engineered for mass production meaning that it is cheaper in all respects than the Equinox FCV. Keep reading after the jump.

Continue reading Editorial: Henderson’s fuel cell 10X cost comments are out of context

Editorial: Henderson’s fuel cell 10X cost comments are out of context originally appeared on Autoblog Green on Mon, 02 Nov 2009 11:55:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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