When you talk to the people who work at the GM Fuel Cell Lab in Honeoye Falls, N.Y., the conversation inevitably turns to the weather. That’s definitely understandable in the case of Omar Anbari. He grew up five minutes from the beaches in Morocco on northwest corner of the African continent, and he said that the weather there is generally like San Diego, Calif. year round, except a little warmer. He now works in the suburb of Rochester, which get an average 93 inches of snow a year. He said, “In Morocco, I could go to the beach in February. Here, you can’t even go outside in February.” But despite the weather, he is excited to be a part of the team that is developing the next generation of personal transportation.

Omar and his two brothers all grew up to be engineers. He said, “Back home in Morocco, if you have good grades in school, you tend to go toward engineering.” He went to France to study engineering, and took advantage of an exchange program that brought him to the Rochester Institute of Technology. He ended up staying in Rochester, and early in 2011, he joined the GM Fuel Cell Activities group. He is working on improving GM’s hydrogen-powered engine in hopes of making it economically feasible to mass-produce a clean alternative to today’s internal combustion (IC) engine. Powering the engine with hydrogen fuel means that you use no petroleum and water is the only emission.

While GM was able to put more than 2 million miles on its previous-generation fuel cell vehicles, Omar is part of the team that continues to make the next generation even better. He said, “We’re making it cheaper, more durable, more integrated, less weight, less volume.”

In addition to his engineering skills, Omar uses his language skills to help his team develop the next generation fuel cell vehicle. He speaks Arabic, French, Spanish and English. He has sat in on meetings with French suppliers to help facilitate communications between the teams, and he has even called hotels in Spain to assist fellow employees headed there on a business trip. He said that being able to use his language skills makes his job more enjoyable. “That’s something that I’ve always wanted to do, and I’ve worked hard to learn these languages. I’ve always wanted to use them.”

But the thing that he’s really looking forward to is seeing the next generation of the fuel cell on the road. He said, “I’m hoping that in the next generation vehicle, there will be a couple of components I’m working on in there.” The IC engine changed personal transportation. Omar said, “Being able to say in the future ‘I was part of the team that developed the first fuel cell car,’ I think that could be a pretty big one.”

 Lucy Boulatnikov Wilke , senior project engineer 

Married to: Burkhardt (Burk for short) for almost two years
Listens to: Tons of audio books as she travels 25,000 miles/yr to visit Burk in Canada – mostly historical fiction
TV junkie: House, So You Think You Can Dance, Bones, Family Guy, South Park, Simpsons
Music junkie: Classical when she’s with Burk, pop when she’s alone
Hobbies: Loves spending time with friends and doing outdoor stuff like camping and hiking
Interesting fact: Leads GM Friends & Family Ski Club
Education: Has a BS in Industrial Engineering from the University at Buffalo (UB) and a Masters in Manufacturing Management & Leadership from Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT)

As a fourteen year old, Lucy came to the U.S. from Ukraine and jumped feet first into all things math related. She tutored math and was one of the team leads of her high school math team that competed against other Rochester, NY high schools.

So it’s not surprising that as an engineer, following in her mother’s footsteps, Lucy runs mathematical equations in her mind (silly stuff as she calls it), as she travels 4.5 hours to see her husband who is completing his Chemistry PhD in Ottawa, Canada. She tries to figure out if she increases her speed by one mile per hour, how much faster she will get there. What takes you by surprise are her funny sayings.

“Burk and I were married on the 4^th of July and on the Save-the-Dates I wrote: “…we are losing our independence to each other on Independence Day!” What can I say; I love to be corny.”

Lucy & Burk

Lucy is a manufacturing engineer who works with Design Engineering, Operations and Quality functions to set up processes to build and test the next generation of fuel cells. “You have to plan not just for the short term – that’s easy – but for the long term when we go into the actual fuel cell vehicle production.”

She came to GM six years ago when a manager of the Honeoye Falls, NY Fuel Cell facility who was trying to woo her away from a job she loved in Buffalo, NY, asked her if she wanted to work at a job that would change the world. “Corny, but Gary totally had me at “change the world.”

When she started at Honeoye Falls, the production floor was pretty empty. She had the opportunity to plan for the building of the first 120 Chevy Equinox Fuel Cell vehicles that would be used in the largest test marketing program for a fuel cell vehicle of any manufacturer. “These vehicles were going to be driven by regular drivers and had to meet all the stringent safety and quality metrics of any other Chevy vehicle. There was a lot of calculating and running of many algorithms to learn what to expect from the innovative designs. The beauty of working with so many smart people is that the problems always get solved with creative new ideas.

At the 2009 Rochester Auto Show

“I am so motivated by what I do and how it will affect our planet in the future. After six years I am still so excited about my job. My parents gave up a lot for my future, and I know they, as well as my brother are extremely proud of my work.  My friends also think it’s ‘wicked cool’ that I get to work on the cutting edge technologies.”

She puts the technology into perspective for us. “Think about if you lived in a crowded city. With fuel cells, there is no pollution or smog, no worry of health issues – just a release of water vapor. There would be no catastrophic events that come from off-shore drilling because hydrogen can be safely produced anywhere. There are opportunities to use a variety of methods to produce hydrogen. For us locally we could use the electricity that is generated from Niagara Falls, others could use solar, wind and even thermal energy to get their car fuel.”

Three years ago Lucy was teased by a colleague about not running at the annual Corporate Challenge 3.5-mile run. Always up for a challenge, Lucy started running and has kept it up doing 3-mile runs 2-3 times a week.  “There are a lot of runners at the Honeoye Falls facility, it’s a great group.  Running helps me stay fit and gets me outside getting fresh clean air – just like the air from the exhaust of a Chevy fuel cell vehicle.” J

Stephanie and the Governator

Editor’s Note: Stephanie White is a biologist for the State of California, an avid environmentalist by vocation and hobby, having hiked and birded on six continents. The West Los Angeles resident is the first long-term assignee to one of Chevy’s upgraded hydrogen-powered fuel cell vehicles. She picked up her specially wrapped car at the General Motors Fuel Cell Training Center in Burbank on March 16. This is her second time behind the wheel following a two-month stint last summer as a participant in Project Driveway, the world’s largest fuel cell vehicle demonstration fleet. Among other activities, she showed the car to California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on a Hydrogen Highway stop in West L.A. Now, like Le Ann Hinkle who received her Chevy fuel cell loaner in New York this week, Stephanie is back on the road…

No payments and no pollution – I love driving but at some point, you realize what your impacts are. I started commuting by public transit in the Bay Area, Sacramento, and, yes, here in L.A. to reduce my carbon footprint. With the fuel cell, I’m getting more than 50 mpg (equivalent), and the air coming out of the vehicle is cleaner that what’s going in – driving is nearly guilt free!

Not always a fan – I’m a strong supporter of new technology. Still, I remember being initially upset when money was diverted in the energy budget to fuel cells. That really didn’t change until I became part of Project Driveway. I was in the Prius camp for a long time – I thought that was the best offering out there, and then I drove this car. This is just one part of the climate change solution, but it’s a big part.

From stranded to advocate – My last car, which I won’t mention by name, pretty much blew up on the freeway and stranded me in Vacaville. My boyfriend heard about the Project Driveway program and told me, ‘GM’s got free cars. You should apply for one.’ I showed up at a meet-up of Project Driveway participants in Long Beach last May and after driving it around a park, I just loved it. No shifting. No delay. Just pedal to the metal and you go. A few months after that, I got my own loaner. I drove it 4,700 miles in two months and I was so sad to have to turn it back in. When (Project Driveway manager) Mark Vann called me a few weeks ago and told me about the long-term loan, I was speechless. I finally said, ‘Really?’ and he said, ‘Really.’ And I said ‘Really, really?’ And he said ‘Really, really.’

A social phenomenon – It’s an easy way for me to talk to people, just a great way to talk about the technology. One Friday, I went to Bob’s Big Boy in Burbank and went to some of the crankiest, saltiest guys there. One of them said ‘Get that Al Gore car away from me,’ but a few drove it around the parking lot and told the other guys about it. They were hooked. One of the most fun things to do is put people behind the wheel so they can experience it.

Fill ‘er up… easily – This time around, I will be able to extend the range of the vehicle. There are hydrogen filling stations two miles, five miles and six miles from my home. I’m in that sweet spot for what a hydrogen infrastructure should be. And I do have my Furlough Fridays (where state employees take unpaid Fridays off three weeks a month), to visit places on weekdays. One thing I didn’t get to do the first time was take it to schools.

Alain Guiboux, Team Leader, Western Region, Driver Relationship Manager
Super fan:

As a team leader on GM’s Fuel Cell Project Driveway program, I probably have one of the greenest and most rewarding jobs at GM. I work with real people who raised their hands to be part of the program, which places hydrogen fuel cell Chevy Equinox vehicles into consumers’ hands to gain real-world experience and learning.

I’ve been with Project Driveway since 2007, when we began working with consumer drivers.  I show our drivers how to operate and fuel the vehicle, what to do in case of mechanical issues, and am essentially on call 24/7 if they have questions or concerns.  In addition to working with many different fuel cell drivers, I’ve also organized dozens of ride and drives for various events, and am responsibility for the West Coast Disney team – Disney uses about 10 percent of the fuel cell fleet.

Watching the evolution of Project Driveway is remarkable.  Seeing the thrill of each of the drivers as they drive this vehicle – without exception – they are amazed at how mature our technology is.  Dealing directly with the drivers has made this whole journey a wonderful experience, and it’s exciting to know GM is at the forefront of this technology.

This month, GM’s fuel cells will log more than 1 million miles driven with zero petroleum and leaving a carbon footprint of zero.  Zero! It’s estimated the Chevy Equinox Fuel Cell vehicles will have saved approximately 50,000 gallons of gasoline so far.

On my oldest son’s first birthday, I found out I had cancer – Hodgkin’s Lymphoma.  I worked throughout my treatment and only missed work on my chemo infusion days.  I’ve passed my fifth “cancer free” birthday and believe being a survivor is a great gift.  Having – and beating – cancer made me fully understand my mortality and gives me the tremendous ability to savor every single day.