Bodman offers hydrogen road map

Three years after President Bush announced a $1.2 billion hydrogen fuel initiative in his 2003 State of the Union address, US Department of Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman has unveiled a “road map” intended to guide research and get hydrogen fuel cell vehicles into show rooms by 2020. Along with the 80-page “Roadmap to Advance Hydrogen Fuel Cell Vehicles,” Bodman announced grants totaling $119 million aimed at “identifying and overcoming the technical and manufacturing challenges” that face the development of a practical transportation system based on hydrogen.

While the administration has been touting the prospect of hydrogen cars for the past few years, researchers have regularly cautioned that the scientific problems associated with such vehicles are considerable. A 2003 DOE hydrogen workshop report concluded that the transition from a fossil-fuel-based economy to one based on hydrogen would require “revolutionary, not evolutionary” scientific advances (see Physics Today, October 2003, page 35 ).

Although Bodman made the announcement at an auto show in Washington, DC, on 24 January, much of the focus of the program is on basic research and “critical path technology barriers” to develop efficient, inexpensive hydrogen fuel cells. DOE has set aside $100 million and is soliciting proposals for research on such things as improved fuel cell membranes, cathode catalysts, and fuel cell concepts. Another $19 million will go to 12 already-selected projects, at both universities and private research companies, for R&D on polymer electrolyte fuel cell membranes.

The road map recommends research in hydrogen production, delivery, and storage. It also notes that advanced hydrogen technologies need to be developed “to the point that industry can make commercialization decisions on hydrogen fuel cell vehicles and fuel infrastructure by 2015 so these technologies can begin to penetrate consumer markets by 2020.”

MIT physicist Mildred Dresselhaus, who chaired the 2003 DOE hydrogen workshop, said the transition from a fossil-fuel-based economy to a hydrogen economy is not a sure thing and such a change should be thought about on a 40-year timeline (see Physics Today, December 2004, page 39 ). “You have to get the technologies in place and get the industries behind it. We really don’t know what the right path is yet.” Dresselhaus praised Bodman for “coming out and explaining that basic research is needed to get us from here to there, and also for making clear that the basic research will have a positive impact on any of the solutions to the [energy] transition problem, even if the solution is not hydrogen.”