Archive for July, 2009

GM article in USA Today and GM’s clarification

This morning, USA Today carried and unfortunate article implying that GM will cut back on its fuel cell program without an infusion of funding.  Below I’ve copied GM’s response to the article.

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In recent days, both houses of Congress have voted to restore funding to
hydrogen and automotive fuel cell programs proposed for cutting by the
Department of Energy.  This bipartisan support shows that Congress
recognizes fuel cells as a critical energy-saving and competitive
technology.

As the race toward fuel cell commercialization nears the finish line, the
question is whether the U.S. will import those fuel cell vehicles from
overseas or make them domestically.

GM believes fuel cell vehicles will be a part of the country’s future
vehicle portfolio and we remain committed to retaining our leadership in
fuel cell technology.  That is why we have kept the fuel cell development
program in place throughout our recent financial crisis - including through
bankruptcy.  We believe the country needs this technology if it is going to
achieve its mid- and long-term goals of reducing petroleum dependency and
greenhouse gas emissions.

In recent discussions, Congress has asked GM what it would take to ensure
that the U.S. keeps pace with other industrial countries and to keep a
winning, domestic fuel cell development program on track.  Based on our
extensive work in this area, we believe that something in the range of $50
million to $70 million a year, dedicated to a focused effort to
commercialize automotive fuel cell technology within five years, would be
needed to match the comparable efforts we are seeing in Europe and Asia.

USCAR Support

The United States Council for Automotive Research LLC, a cooperative effort between General Motors, Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler, just released an interesting new paper.  The Big 3 state that “only hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicle technology offers the promise of true-zero emissions, superior efficiency and uncompromised functionality” and that failing to restore funding would make the U.S. “uncomfortably dependent” on foreign nations for the technology.

The document, entitled Hydrogen Research for Transportation: a USCAR Perpective, addresses technical issues and progress for fuel cells, hydrogen storage, hydrogen source pathways and infrastructure and finds that (among other things):

  • Cost, performance and durability has greatly improved in the past 5 years but need continued support to reach target goals
  • Onboard hydrogen storage systems cost significantly less than batteries used in EVs and plug-in hybrids
  • The range of vehicles with compressed hydrogen tanks vastly exceeds the range capability of equivalent size battery powered vehicles
  • A network of just 12,000 hydrogen stations would put hydrogen within two miles of 70 percent of the U.S. population (in the 100 largest metropolitan areas) and connect the major U.S. metro areas with a hydrogen refueling station every 25 miles

The report concludes that DOE should balance technology development priorities to include fuel cell vehicles to assure that the current pace of development continues.  Let’s hope DOE takes this plea to heart.

Have you read the report? Leave us your thoughts.

Interview with USFCC’s Bob Rose

In an interview taped yesterday for E&E TV, Bob Rose of the US Fuel Cell Council discusses the status of fuel cell and hydrogen funding.  ”We cannot get to our national energy & climate change goals without fuel cells and hydrogen.”  So true, Bob.

(Unfortunately, we are unable to post the video on the blog right now - but it is accessible through the link above, and we will have a few images up asap. Thanks!)

The full transcript can be found here.

House OK’s $45 million

A quick update on the DOE budget decisions:

The House of Representatives voted this week on the FY 2010 Energy and Water Appropriations bill.  This spending measure will fund the Department of Energy and their fuel cell and hydrogen activities.  The bill featured an amendment offered by Messrs. Israel (NY), Larson (CT), Dent (PA), Massa (NY), Inglis (SC), and Doyle (PA).

It restored $45 Million in funding for a variety of EERE’s activities including: the Market Transformation Program, Hydrogen Research-Fuels Research and Development, the Enabling Activities Program, Hydrogen Infrastructure, and Fuel Cell Manufacturing Research.

In total, the House has put forward $153 million for EERE activities.  Less than FY 2009, but considerably higher than the DOE request of $68 million.  If you remember, last week, the Senate Appropriations committee passed their version of the E&W bill that would provide $190 million for EERE activities.

For Fossil Energy, $54 million was approved for the SECA program, as requested by DOE.
The full Senate will vote on their version of the E&W bill shortly and then a final bill will be written by a conference committee of House and Senate leaders.

Senate approves full $190M

Good news, Insiders.  As expected, the full US Senate Appropriations Committee approved without debate a $190 million budget for fuel cells and hydrogen in the Department of Energy’s Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy office.  This restores nearly all the cuts proposed by Energy Secretary Chu that we’ve been talking about the last few weeks.

So as of now, the House and Senate have approved differing budget amounts (the House approved $108 million).  The respective bills must be approved by the full House and full Senate - a process which might begin as early as next week (week of July 13); then a final bill will be written by a conference committee of House and Senate leaders.   We will be working to help them make the right decision to achieve a final budget of $190 million.

The process could take several more weeks or even months, but we’re on the right path! Please continue to voice your support through our action page, http://capwiz.com/fuelcells/home/, and make sure you are following @fuelcellinsider on Twitter.  We’ve been posting breaking news and legislative updates.