OT++ GM/Toyota deal -> no mention of CNG systems
GM and Toyota to Announce Pact To Develop 'Alternate-Fuel Vehicles'
By JEFFREY BALL
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
DETROIT -- General Motors Corp. and Toyota Motor Corp. will turn up the heat in the race to develop environmentally friendly vehicles when they announce Monday a five-year partnership to develop cars powered by fuel cells and other nontraditional-fuel technologies.
The companies, which have worked together in the past, will announce an agreement to develop so-called alternate-fuel vehicles through 2004, individuals familiar with the situation said. That is the year by which several auto makers, including GM and rivals Ford Motor Co. and DaimlerChrysler AG, have said they will have fuel-cell vehicles ready to manufacture. Toyota hasn't said when it hopes to bring a fuel-cell vehicle to market.
The GM-Toyota announcement comes one day before Ford, DaimlerChrysler and Ballard Power Systems Inc., a Burnaby, British Columbia, fuel-cell manufacturer, plan to announce in California a partnership with three oil companies -- Texaco Inc., Atlantic Richfield Co. and Shell Oil Co., a unit of Royal Dutch/Shell Group -- as well as the state of California, to put a demonstration fleet of fuel-cell-powered vehicles on the road starting next year. "It's one thing to announce a coalition -- we've already done that," said Jon Harmon, a Ford spokesman. "Now we're preparing to put vehicles on the road."
GM and Toyota won't disclose the amount of money they expect to spend on the partnership, the individuals said. GM Vice Chairman Harry Pearce, who is returning to his post following treatment for leukemia, is expected to represent the No. 1 auto maker at the announcement, and a top official from Toyota's headquarters is to represent the Japanese auto maker, the individuals said.
Toyota last week announced a new president will take over in June for Hiroshi Okuda, who will become chairman.
Competition to produce a marketable fuel-cell vehicle has been intensifying among auto makers in the past year; Ford and DaimlerChrysler each have invested hundreds of millions of dollars in a fuel-cell research-and-development partnership with each other and Ballard.
Although GM has bought fuel cells from Ballard, its partnership with Toyota won't involve Ballard, the individuals said. Instead, GM and Toyota plan to develop their automotive fuel-cell systems themselves, the individuals said.
Fuel cells have attracted such corporate interest lately because they are seen as a way to make electric vehicles viable with consumers. Although the latest battery-powered electric vehicles must be recharged after about 150 miles, fuel-cell powered vehicles, which turn hydrogen into electricity, manufacture power as they go.
Nevertheless, fuel-cell vehicles remain prohibitively expensive, and reducing their cost to that of a comparable car powered by an internal-combustion engine is viewed as key to their acceptance.
Both GM and Toyota have been working on other types of alternate-fuel vehicles. Toyota already is selling in Japan its Prius car, a so-called hybrid vehicle that is powered both by an electric motor and a gasoline-powered engine. The company plans to introduce the car to the U.S. and Europe next year.
In addition, the two companies announced last year that they were working together to develop a common system for the recharging of battery-powered electric vehicles. The vehicles have received tepid receptions in the market.
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