 |  | | | These days, fuel cell vehicles have taken on a momentum like never before. That's largely because of President Bush's proposed $1.2 billion in fuel cell federal funding included in his State-of-the-Union Address, which was framed alongside such top-line issues as Iraq and the economy.
Call-to-Arms | Back To Top
The President's proposal, which speaks to energy self-sufficiency as much as clean air, has the ultimate aim of reducing America's dependence on foreign oil. The plan is every bit as ambitious, and as do-able, as the early 1960s call by President Kennedy to put a man on the moon by the end of that decade, which energized many industries and galvanized a nationwide effort that led to the successful Apollo Program. Fuel cells are this decade's equivalent to that call-to-arms.
Directing federal funds and attention at developing fuel cell vehicles and the infrastructure to fuel them is a crucial link in this auto technology's lengthy drive to market. This attention is now spurring the proposal of other legislation to provide tax incentives. Among the most high-profile is the H2GROW Act, which seeks to get more fuel cell vehicles on the road, increase production of hydrogen fuel, and importantly, fill a crucial gap by creating a nationwide refueling infrastructure.
Refueling | Back To Top
"Commercially available hydrogen-powered cars will soon be a reality, but consumers will not buy them until they are confident that they can refuel on America's roads and highways," says U.S. Rep. Christopher Cox, (R-CA), co-author of H2GROW. "The automakers have never been in the gasoline business, and have expressed no interest in the hydrogen business. But without widely available refueling stations, no one will buy hydrogen-fueled cars."
Just like electric cars, the early years of fuel cell development will see prototype fuel cell vehicles available only for controlled fleet demonstrations. While many of these will look like normal production vehicles, beneath the skin they are anything but that, with hand-built fuel cell drivetrains and supporting subsystems that need the thousands of miles of shakedown they'll get in fleet use. Because they use such expensive componentry and are largely hand built, their cost is currently way beyond that of conventional vehicles.
Tax Credits | Back To Top
If passed, H2GROW seeks to blunt their high cost by providing a tax credit of 25% for the purchase price of a hydrogen-powered vehicle, with a cap of $50,000. Obviously, the target customers in the early years would be fleets. H2GROW would also encourage government participation in these vehicles' commercializing by mandating that hydrogen powered vehicles comprise a minimum percentage of federal fleets, from 5% for fleets of 100 vehicles or more in 2006 to 50% for fleets of 50 vehicles or more in 2012.
All things considered, that 5% figure is highly optimistic for just three years down the road. Only six prototypes have been undergoing testing in Sacramento over the past several years, and the first fuel cell vehicles just recently made their way to fleet demonstrations on American highways. Toyota placed a pair of its FCHV fuel cell vehicles with two University of California campuses, one in Berkeley and the other in Irvine. Honda also partnered with the City of Los Angeles to place its first FCV fuel cell vehicle in service for everyday commercial use. Others will follow from most major automakers.
As part of its march to market with fuel cell vehicles, the 2003 Honda FCX was recently certified by the Environmental Protection Agency as the first hydrogen fuel cell zero emission vehicle in the nation. EPA has responsibility to certify each model that will ultimately be sold in the country as complying with all emission standards. The Honda FCX and Toyota FCHV have also been certified by the California Air Resources Board as Zero Emission Vehicles.
While much work remains before fuel cell vehicles are in new car showrooms, all of this movement is leading to the day when fuel cell vehicles will be an integral part of everyday life. A national strategy for the evolution of the hydrogen and fuel cell age will surely help this along.
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