????幾家汽車(chē)制造商竟然因?yàn)橐粋€(gè)化學(xué)元素走到一起，確實(shí)有趣,。汽車(chē)制造商紛紛結(jié)盟,，生產(chǎn)更有成本優(yōu)勢(shì)的汽車(chē)，而這種汽車(chē)的燃料便是化學(xué)周期表最左上角的一種化學(xué)元素——?dú)洹?/p>

????1月24日,，寶馬（BMW）與豐田（Toyota）宣布,，至2020年，兩家公司將聯(lián)合生產(chǎn)一款氫燃料電池汽車(chē),。而最近,，戴姆勒（Daimler）、福特（Ford）和日產(chǎn)汽車(chē)（Nissan）也于1月28日共同宣布結(jié)盟,，四家公司將在2017年之前推出一款氫燃料電池汽車(chē),。

????這些公司之前都是激烈的競(jìng)爭(zhēng)對(duì)手，如今卻紛紛結(jié)盟,。因?yàn)檫@或許是他們最好的選擇,。

????這已經(jīng)不是汽車(chē)公司之間的首次聯(lián)合。早在2010年，豐田便將其普銳斯汽車(chē)（Prius）使用的動(dòng)力傳動(dòng)系統(tǒng)授權(quán)給馬自達(dá)公司（Mazda）,，后者一直希望在自己生產(chǎn)的混合動(dòng)力汽車(chē)中使用豐田的技術(shù),。

????而且,，這次各廠商聯(lián)合開(kāi)發(fā)的燃料電池汽車(chē)也并不是什么新鮮事物,。早在1839年，威廉姆?格羅夫就發(fā)明了燃料電池,。當(dāng)時(shí),，許多汽車(chē)使用的都是我們今天所說(shuō)的替代燃料：電力、花生油,，甚至蒸汽,。只是最終內(nèi)燃發(fā)動(dòng)機(jī)獲得了成功。不過(guò),，大型汽車(chē)廠商聯(lián)合推出面向大眾市場(chǎng)且價(jià)格可行的燃料電池汽車(chē),，尚屬首次。如今市場(chǎng)已經(jīng)可以接受這類(lèi)車(chē)型,，但廠商單獨(dú)開(kāi)發(fā)的意義并不大,。

????一方面，氫燃料驅(qū)動(dòng)汽車(chē)的銷(xiāo)售成本要高于生產(chǎn)成本,。整個(gè)燃料基礎(chǔ)設(shè)施（即消費(fèi)者如何獲得燃?xì)夤?yīng)）必須進(jìn)行改變,，鑒于目前整個(gè)汽車(chē)燃料供應(yīng)系統(tǒng)均圍繞汽油建成，這個(gè)任務(wù)非常艱巨,。企業(yè)社會(huì)責(zé)任委員會(huì)（BSR）顧問(wèn)服務(wù)高級(jí)副總裁埃里克?奧爾森說(shuō)：如果以這種方式?jīng)_擊市場(chǎng),，“面臨最大的挑戰(zhàn)往往不是技術(shù)問(wèn)題。條件,、基礎(chǔ)設(shè)施,、政策和市場(chǎng)是否做好準(zhǔn)備，往往與技術(shù)問(wèn)題密切可分,?！?/p>

????如果各大廠商聯(lián)合推進(jìn)基礎(chǔ)設(shè)施的準(zhǔn)備工作，就可以加快新一代汽車(chē)的上市進(jìn)程,。此外,，汽車(chē)廠商聯(lián)合起來(lái)就可在相關(guān)規(guī)定出臺(tái)之前，達(dá)成自己的標(biāo)準(zhǔn),。密歇根大學(xué)羅斯商學(xué)院（ University of Michigan's Ross School of Business）土木工程與環(huán)境工程學(xué)教授彼得?阿德里亞恩斯認(rèn)為,，比起各自為戰(zhàn)，多家廠商聯(lián)合起來(lái)更容易解決氫燃料電池如何與汽車(chē)其他部分相互作用的問(wèn)題,。

????阿德里亞恩斯說(shuō)：“這是電動(dòng)汽車(chē)開(kāi)發(fā)帶來(lái)的教訓(xùn)之一,。”雖然豐田汽車(chē)曾授權(quán)其他公司使用普銳斯混合動(dòng)力車(chē)的發(fā)動(dòng)機(jī)，但其他公司試圖將專(zhuān)有電動(dòng)汽車(chē)技術(shù)轉(zhuǎn)變成競(jìng)爭(zhēng)優(yōu)勢(shì)時(shí),，便會(huì)與這一授權(quán)產(chǎn)生沖突,。

????It's lovely how a single element can bring several car companies together. Automakers are bonding to make cost-competitive vehicles that run on hydrogen, the upper-leftmost element on the periodic table.

????On January 24, BMW and Toyota (TM) announced that they would collaborate to release a hydrogen fuel cell-powered car by 2020. More recently, Daimler, Ford (F), and Nissan one-upped the pair, announcing on January 28 that, together, they would bring a hydrogen fuel cell-powered vehicle to market by 2017.

????These companies are fierce competitors, and yet, they are joining forces. It's probably the best choice they could make.

????This isn't the first time this has happened in the auto industry. In 2010, Toyota licensed the drivetrain used in its Prius to Mazda, which wanted to incorporate the technology in its own hybrid model.

????Nor will the vehicles that come out of this cooperation be the first ones to run on fuel cells. The fuel cell was developed before the turn of the last century, in 1839 by Sir William Grove. Around that time, a host of cars ran on what we would now consider alternative fuels: electricity, peanut oil, and even steam. The internal combustion engine won out.

????Nevertheless, this is the first time that big auto companies are teaming up to bring affordable, fuel cell-powered cars to a mass market that's ready for such products, and it doesn't make much sense to do it alone.

????For one, selling cars that run off of hydrogen will take much more than just making them. The entire fuel infrastructure (how gas gets to consumers) will have to change, which is no simple task, given the fact that the entire car fuel delivery system is built around gasoline. When rocking the market this way, "It turns out the technology is often not the biggest challenge," says Eric Olson, senior vice president of advisory services at BSR. "Closely intertwined with the technology is having the conditions, the infrastructure, the policy, and the market preparedness."

????Companies can bring a new generation of cars to market more quickly if they collaborate on priming the infrastructure. They can also stay ahead of regulation by teaming up and agreeing on standards themselves. In this case, multiple heads are probably better than one to figure out how exactly the hydrogen fuel cell will interact with the rest of the car, says Peter Adriaens, a civil and environmental engineering professor at the University of Michigan's Ross School of business.

????"That's one of the lessons learned from electric vehicle development," Adriaens says. Toyota may have licensed the guts of the hybrid Prius out to other companies, but other car companies have clashed as they tried to use proprietary EV technology to gain a competitive edge.