The Element Of Surprise

Meet the hydrogen-powered Chevy ZH2.One-off prototype or prelude to the future of transportation? 

- John Schwartze

When it comes to describing the Chevy ZH2, we hesitate to label it with the term “concept.” Most vehicles bearing that moniker never seem to get beyond being displayed on a carousel at auto shows with sultry-voiced booth babes telling everyone it’s the next generation of automotive engineering or something else grandiose. After all, even though we’ve seen several concept versions, we’re still waiting for the El Camino’s comeback so we can relive our high school days in full midlife crisis mode.

In the case of the Chevy Colorado-based ZH2, there’s no bait and switch. We’ve seen it, we’ve heard it (after listening very carefully), and believe it’s a sign of things to come. It’s easy to be skeptical whenever advancements this drastic go from drawing board to testing environments, which led us to question how this idea was hatched.

DEVELOPMENT

We discovered that GM already has more than a decade of experience collaborating on fuel-cell research demonstration programs with the U.S. Army Tank Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center (TARDEC) — an organization focused on ground vehicle applications for the U.S. Army. Now that TARDEC has committed to putting the ZH2 through a year of extreme field testing, there’s far too much at stake for shortcuts. Yes, you read that correctly. We may see ZH2’s on the battlefield one day.

Believe it or not, hydrogen fuel cell technology has been around for quite a while. Introduced in 1966, the Electrovan was the first fuel-cell vehicle ever, also developed by GM. It didn’t end up being practical for mass production at the time, but after a gap of roughly 25 to 30 years things really got serious again.