General Motors today announced a collaboration with Hawaii's major gas provider to help test hydrogen fuel cell vehicles in the Aloha State.

The Gas Company will use a proprietary system to deliver hydrogen for use by local fueling stations on the island of Oahu.

The Detroit automaker said it already has a fuel cell vehicle on the ground in Hawaii and that it expects to put fewer than 50 there as part of program to test the vehicles.

Officials were coy about who would be driving the vehicles and the total number.

"We would like to find some established fleet users as a start," Charles Freese, executive director of GM global fuel cell activities, told reporters.

GM has invested more than $1.5 billion in fuel cell vehicles over the past 15 years and is developing a production-intent fuel cell system that could go to market no sooner than 2015.

The automaker already has a fleet of a more than 100 hydrogen-fueled vehicles in use in California, New York and Washington, D.C., as part of its Project Driveway test program.

"This is the type of enabler that a hydrogen transportation infrastructure needs because it addresses both the source of the hydrogen and a feasible way to deliver it for fuel cell vehicle use," Freese said in a statement. "The Hawaii infrastructure could eventually support tens of thousands of fuel cell vehicles."

Hawaii wants to reduce its petroleum use by 70% and is looking at a variety ways to do that.

GM sees the hydrogen-fueled vehicles as a good solution for drivers that need to carry heavy loads and go long distances.

One major issue for such vehicles, however, is fueling stations.

"Having an island state that is bounded by water is a very good solution for putting in a new hydrogen infrastructure because you don't have to worry about the vehicles driving out of the state and then being stranded without a hydrogen infrastructure in a neighboring state or country," Freese said. "Hawaii is a very nice opportunity from that standpoint. A very manageable investment can put the stations and infrastructure in place to serve a fairly sizable fleet of vehicles."

Jeff Kissel, president and CEO of TGC, said his company has the ability to take excess hydrogen from its methane operation and add it to the gas stream for use in fuel cell cars.

The company can already produce the equivalent of 7,000 gasoline gallons of hydrogen daily.

"We have the ability to serve quite a large number of vehicles on the island and keep them well fueled without any difficulties," Kissel said.