Hydrogen Fuel Cells: Powering the Future

At the center of this initiative is the Department of Energy-led (DOE) FreedomCAR and FreedomFuel Initiative, a public-private partnership among DOE, its laboratories, and U.S. industry. Combined with FreedomCAR’s existing efforts, President Bush proposed a total of $1.7 billion over the next five years for research on transportation, stationary and portable fuel cell applications and supporting infrastructure.

In FY 2003, DOE invested more than $118 million in fuel cell-related research and technology development. For FY 2004, President Bush requested $77.5 million for fuel cell research activities — including the FreedomCar and vehicle technology programs — at DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. $44.5 million was requested for distributed power systems activity at the DOE’s Office of Fossil Energy. President Bush also requested almost $88 million for the Administration’s new hydrogen fuel initiative to focus on the infrastructure for generation, storage and delivery of hydrogen.

Although House and Senate conferees are currently working out the details of the relevant appropriations bills, including settling on final numbers for these accounts, based on the House and Senate bills, the following minimum funding levels appear likely:

•		$56.5 million for Freedom Car, vehicle technology programs and other related research at the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy;
•		$67.5 million for the Office of Fossil Energy’s distributed power systems activities; and
•		$67.9 million for infrastructure for generation, storage and delivery of hydrogen.
In addition, the omnibus “Energy Bill” contains authorization — but no immediate funding — for fuel cell R&D, technology demonstration projects, and tax credits for buyers of fuel cell vehicles. Beyond DOE’s FreedomCAR and Fuel Initiatives, other federal agencies support the commercialization of fuel cells through a variety of grant programs that fund the development of technology, physical infrastructure, educational curricula and more.
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