Current Global Fuel Cell R&D and Future Research Needs

Fuel cell research and business sectors must overcome fundamental barriers before they can field products that compete on their own in the energy and vehicle markets. Investment trends, R&D programs, and commercialization activities of 180 companies and 50 major government R&D programs worldwide indicate that total private sector and government investment in fuel cell technology and product development has amounted to US$22 billion over the past 18 years, funding a wide range of stationary and vehicle applications. Nonetheless, this investment has not led to commercially viable products. This article, based on my recently published book-Fuel Cells: Current Technology Challenges and Future Research Needs-provides the rationale for this ambitious research (1). We propose launching a National Fuel Cell Development Project (NFCDP)-a 5-year, $2-billion-a-year basic research effort-that would focus solely on obtaining detailed knowledge of fuel cell electrochemical operations and thereby lay the foundation for achieving major breakthroughs in fuel cell technology necessary for commercialization.