Fuel-Cell Research is Worth Risk Says National Academy of Sciences

Bush administration-established FreedomCAR (Cooperative Automotive Research) and Fuel Partnership, which includes which includes the Energy Department, major automakers, five major oil and gas companies and two electric utilities, primarily focused
on hydrogen fuel-related technologies, including production and storage, automotive fuel-cells, codes and standards, and infrastructure for the longer term.

But after the Bush Administration spent $1.2 billion on developing hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles over five years, the Obama administration proposed cutting it from $169 million 2009 to just $68 million in 2010 — a $101 million cut.

Currently the FreedomCAR is focusing its research at other emerging vehicle technologies, such as internal combustion engine efficiencies, vehicle lightweighting, hybrid-electric, plug-in hybrid and electric vehicle technologies.

However the NationalAcademy, which advises the government, says investment into fuel cells is worth risk.

"The FreedomCAR and Fuel Partnership have made significant progress in all of the technologies it is developing, including hydrogen-based technologies. Although it’s important to work on near-term technologies, it’s equally important for the partnership to perform the type of high-risk research in areas such as hydrogen that would not otherwise be taken on by the private sector, especially as the economy is still recovering,” said one of the authors of the report, Vernon P. Roan, professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at University of Florida, who has been involved in fuel-cell development and activities for 20 years.

The full review of the FreedomCAR and Fuel Partnership is available on the National Academies’ website at http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=12939.

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