General Motors’s largest test fleet of hydrogen-powered Equinox Fuel Cell SUVs is called Project Driveway..

“Project Driveway” is the first large-scale market test of fuel cell vehicles with real drivers in the real world. Equinox Fuel Cell is an electric vehicle powered by the GM fourth-generation fuel cell system, advanced fuel cell propulsion system to date. The electric motor traction system will provide the vehicle with instantaneous torque, smooth acceleration, and quiet performance.

Equinox Fuel Cell crossovers to customers in the New York City, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. areas. Families will have vehicles for three months and won’t be charged for the use of the vehicles or the fuel but will have to provide feedback on their experiences.

General Motors have the largest rooftop solar power array in the world on top of one of its factories in Spain.

When work finishes in 2008 the roof of Zaragoza assembly plant in Spain will be covered in 186,000 square metres of solar panelling with 85,000 solar panels, generating up to 12 megawatts of power.

The Zaragoza plant builds the Opel Corsa, Opel Meriva and the Opel Combo for Europe.

GM already has two of the largest solar power installations in the United States on the roofs of its Rancho Cucamonga and Fontana, Calif., parts warehouses. The solar panels on the Rancho Cucamonga warehouse provide about 50% of the facility’s electricity.

According to Reuters the solar panels will cut emissions by 6,700 tonnes per year. AFP says the plant produces 480,000 vehicles a year.

General Motors, the US automobile giant, is to close four North American truck plants and shift its manufacturing focus to smaller vehicles due to higher Gasoline prices.

The four plant closings will save $1 billion a year and cut North American capacity by 700,000 for trucks.

Production output will end at plants in Oshawa, Ontario; Moraine, Ohio; Janesville, Wisconsin; and Toluca, Mexico. The plants  will close in 2009 and 2010.