While other automakers have already distributed a few fuel cell vehicles to retail customers, this will be the first major market test, GM said. It is aimed at testing how customers respond to the vehicles in a variety of driving environments.

GM has not yet determined how much the Chevrolet Equinox will cost or how it will decide who gets a chance to lease the vehicles, spokesman Scott Fosgard told AFP. It is likely that the lease periods could be as short as three months to ensure that more people are able to test it out.

"We want to get to the every day person to do a market test," he explained.

GM has partnered with Shell to set up hydrogen gas fueling stations in Washington, New York and California, and will distribute the US-based vehicles in those markets. The vehicles can drive about 200 miles (322 kilometers) on a tank that holds nine pounds (four kilograms) of hydrogen.

Details of distribution in Europe and Asia will be revealed at a later date, Fosgard said.

GM already has a fleet of 13 hydrogen powered minivans that are being tested in the United States, Germany, China, Korea and Japan.

"General Motors is demonstrating its commitment to hydrogen fuel cells as the answer for taking the automobile out of the environmental debate and reducing our dependence on petroleum," Larry Burns, GM's vice president for research and development and strategic planning said in a statement.

"The Equinox Fuel Cell is powered by GM's most advanced fuel cell propulsion system to date, and demonstrates an important milestone on our pathway to automotive-competitive fuel cell propulsion technology development."

The Equinox was engineered to drive for at least 50,000 miles (80,470 kilometers). It is also able to start and operate in sub-freezing temperatures and is expected to meet all applicable 2007 US Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards.

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