DOE Eliminates Vehicle Fuel Cell Research

So much for federal support for the hydrogen highway.

The Department of Energy is cutting its support for vehicle fuel cell research next year, according to its $26.4 billion 2010 budget request released Thursday.

That’s because the technology isn’t likely be practical for decades, Energy Secretary Steven Chu said (via the New York Times).

The move is a reversal of policies under the administration of President George W. Bush, which devoted $1.2 billion on the technology over five years, according to The Detroit News.

Chu said the challenges involved in developing fuel cells for vehicles and in transporting and dispensing hydrogen to fuel them makes the research impractical.

Fuel cell research as a whole, which received $169 million in DOE’s 2009 budget, isn’t being entirely eliminated. The budget request still includes $68 million for research into stationary fuel cells for purposes such as electricity grid backup power.

And DOE in April awarded $41.9 million in grants for developing fuel cell technologies (see Green Light post).

The National Hydrogen Association, a fuel cell industry group, decried the proposed cut, saying it threatened “to disrupt commercialization of a family of technologies that are showing exceptional promise.”

But despite research programs underway by major automakers and some high-profile political endorsements, only 71 hydrogen fueling stations are operational in the United States and Canada today, according to the association’s Web site.

Fuel cells are being developed for military applications and are in use in some duty vehicles like forklifts, which offer some advantages over batteries or fossil fueled versions (see Uncle Sam Wants Portable Fuel Cells and Plug Power Puts Fuel Cells in Forklifts).