Clean Green Cars: Energy Secretary Steven Chu plans to ensure hydrogen funds invested wisely

Energy Secretary Steven Chu plans to ensure hydrogen funds invested wisely

Filed under: Hydrogen, Legislation and Policy, USA

Honda FCX Clarity - Click above for high-res image gallery

United States Energy Secretary Steven Chu doesn’t think that hydrogen fuel cell vehicles are the best technology to funnel research and development funds into. Still, Chu doesn’t plan to continue fighting with the lawmakers in Congress that voted to reinstate funding into hydrogen projects that he had previously canceled. Says the Energy Secretary:

We will do the best we can to make sure the funds are invested wisely… We asked ourselves, ‘Is it likely in the next 10 or 15, 20 years that we will convert to a hydrogen car economy?’ The answer, we felt, was ‘no.’ Fuel cells is actually the more mature, and so we will try to do our best to say, ‘OK, if the goal is to try and get them into vehicles, let’s design a program to actually try and do that as best we can,’ rather than saying, ‘I disagree with them.’

So, while it seems Chu still feels that battery-powered electric cars are the most likely way to curb our petroleum use for transportation purposes, hydrogen will continue to get funding from the U.S. government in some capacity.

Gallery: Honda FCX Clarity