HTAP is concerned, however, over DOE s current approach of giving substantially more support for the onboard fuel processor option the option strongly supported by industry and the option yielding substantially fewer societal benefits in the long run. This approach seems inconsistent with the Comprehensive National Energy Strategy. Here is a very preliminary list. A more definitive list would need input from both DOE and industry. Expand system studies of refueling scenarios, a major goal of identifying viable bridging strategies between initial introduction and widespread implementation.
Industry needs to be involved in a major way in such studies.
Participation by the Office of Science would be a major plus. Vehicle and fueling station demonstrations, while not a pathway to widespread fuel cell vehicle implementation, serve as valuable precedences for safety, codes and standards, and insurance availability. In our Report to Congress, HTAP recommended that new alternatively fueled vehicle legislation give extra consideration for direct hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, in terms of incentives and mandates, commensurate with direct hydrogen s greater societal benefits. Included is a suggestion that new federal vehicle fleet vehicles at federal facilities which already use hydrogen, such as NASA and Air Force aerospace launch and test facilities, be hydrogen-fueled. If direct methanol fuel cell technology can eventually overcome problems such as low efficiency and scale-up to vehicle fuel cell sizes, they can provide significant societal benefits, especially when the methanol is produced from renewable sources.