US Fuel Cell Council asks for $1.2 billion to help fuel cells gain a foothold
Federal funds for the auto industry are being handed out left and right these days, and the US Fuel Cell Council thinks that the Feds should find $1.2 billion for a Fuel Cell Stimulus Plan. The USFCC says that the money will create an estimated 24,000 jobs as well as "put hundreds of fuel cell vehicles and up to 100 megawatts of fuel cell power into customers' hands, reap efficiency, environmental and security benefits and create green jobs and high-tech manufacturing capacity for the American economy." Specifically, the Council thinks the government should:
- Deploy fuel cells ($100 million)
- Build American manufacturing capacity ($100 million)
- Expand learning demonstrations ($375 million)
- Improve Federal fuel cell investment tax incentives (no price tag given)
- Stimulate fuel cell deployment by supporting a fueling infrastructure ($65 million)
- Accelerate research in partnership with industry ($350 million)
- Invest in fuel cell transit ($180 million)
- Include fuel cells in Obama's energy initiative (no price tag given)
You can read the full USFCC proposal here (page 2) and in the two-page gallery below. Green Car Congress reminds us that last July, a National Research Council study estimated that it would take about $200 billion between now and 2023 to make fuel cell vehicles competitive with gas-powered ones, and the government would have to pay about $55 of that.
[Source: USFCC via Green Car Congress]
