General Motors and Honda will develop and share a hydrogen fuel cell for vehicles they would produce around the end of the decade.

 

By collaborating on a common design and components, they would lower costs and reduce development time.

 

They said they would also work with energy suppliers and state and local governments to expand the network of hydrogen refueling stations, a critical element in fostering consumer acceptance of fuel-cell vehicles.

 

Fuel cells, which combine hydrogen gas stored in the vehicle with oxygen from the atmosphere to generate electricity, offer driving distances and refueling times equivalent to gasoline-powered cars. Though the electricity is produced on board, rather than drawn from a battery pack, the vehicles qualify as zero-emission because the only byproduct is water vapor. Many researchers regard fuel cells as more promising than batteries as an electricity source for vehicles.

 

G.M. and Honda are considered industry leaders in fuel-cell technology, ranking first and second in the total number of related patents filed from 2002 to 2012, according to the Clean Energy Patent Growth Index.

 

The automakers’ partnership is the latest example in a series.