So, I was digging into some cool automotive history and I think I stumbled upon something pretty amazing: the very first hydrogen fuel cell car ever built—the 1966 GM Electrovan. Now, fuel cells have been around since the early 1800s, but it was General Motors that really took the leap and powered a vehicle with one.
I checked into the backstory, and it turns out the GM Electrovan was the brainchild of Dr. Craig Marks, a visionary at GM who led their advanced engineering projects. Over two years, Dr. Marks and a team of 250 engineers built the Electrovan, which was essentially a hydrogen-powered van. It was powered by a fuel cell developed by Union Carbide, using super-cooled liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen. And guess what? The water produced by these fuel cells? Astronauts in NASA’s Gemini program were drinking it! That’s right, the same technology that powered spacecraft also powered this groundbreaking van.
The Electrovan wasn’t without its quirks. It had an insane amount of piping (550 feet!) running throughout the rear, which meant they had to convert the original 6-seat van into a cramped 2-seater. Still, it could hit speeds of 63 to 70 mph, and it had a pretty impressive range of 120 miles—pretty decent for 1966. But, here’s the kicker: it was super expensive to build. The platinum in the fuel cell alone could’ve bought an entire fleet of vans, and back then, hydrogen fueling stations were nowhere to be found. So, they scrapped the project, even though they’d already shown it off to journalists.
What happened to it afterward? Well, General Motors tried to give it to the Smithsonian, but they declined—no idea why. For years, the Electrovan was just sitting in cold storage at a warehouse in Pontiac, Michigan, almost sent to the crusher multiple times. Luckily, it was saved and eventually moved to the GM Heritage Center near Detroit. More recently, the Electrovan made its way to the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles, where it’s now being celebrated as a significant piece of automotive history.
So, the next time someone talks about the first hydrogen-powered car, remember: it all started with the GM Electrovan in 1966.
