General Motors Co., Toyota Motor Corp. and other automakers want to sell consumers electric cars powered by hydrogen within six years. Their plans clash with the U.S. government's infrastructure priorities.
GM, Toyota, Honda Motor Co. and Daimler AG say durability improvements and cost reductions may enable them to sell the zero-emission vehicles by 2015. Costs to make the fuel-cell cars have fallen from $1 million each a few years ago, and automakers are working to meet a proposed goal of slashing the premium for the cars to $3,600 more than a midsized gasoline model.
As the federal government, utilities, cities and states plan charging infrastructure for battery cars, hydrogen fueling stations are also needed, automakers say. While Germany and Japan are moving to build large-scale fueling networks, the U.S. lacks a national infrastructure program and the Energy Department has sought to cut hydrogen-related project funding.
"The advances that have been made by the automobile manufacturers are remarkable," said Scott Samuelsen, director of the National Fuel Cell Research Center at the University of California, Irvine. "Infrastructure is the Achilles' heel."
The fuel cell center opened in 1998 and is funded mainly by the U.S. government and California Energy Commission. It has also received grants from Toyota and Royal Dutch Shell Plc's hydrogen unit, said Kathy Haq, a spokeswoman for the center.
Funding Cut
The U.S. has provided more than $10 billion in low-cost loans and grants this year for production of electric cars, batteries and charging infrastructure, as the Obama administration pushes automakers to improve fuel economy and cut oil imports. By contrast, hydrogen funding was initially gutted.
Energy Secretary Steven Chu in May recommended a 60 percent budget cut for hydrogen projects to $68.2 million, saying batteries and bio-fuels are a better near-term option. Congress restored funding to $190 million.
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