Development

• Research and development is being conducted by the Department of Energy (DOE), which employs a wide range of technologies to produce hydrogen cells economically and in environmentally friendly ways. The DOE realizes that for hydrogen to be successful, it has to be able to compete with conventional fuels on a per-mile basis.
  
  

Technology Validation

• Fuel cells have to be developed to work as a part of a system to be effectively used as a fueling source. There has to be a hydrogen infrastructure in place to support hydrogen cell technology. Once this occurs, hydrogen will be then validated as a new fuel source.
  
  

Challenges

• Four areas of technology validation must be addressed and overcome if hydrogen cells are to become commercialized in society. These four areas include fuel cost and durability, hydrogen storage, hydrogen production and delivery, plus being accepted by the public.
  
  

Safety Standards

• Hydrogen cells are being developed with safety standards that are designed to be international in scope. Regulating and standardizing fuel cells is important to ensuing consistency and safety with this new fueling product.
  
  

Delivery

• Making hydrogen available from the production stage to being ready for consumer use will require pipelines, storage facilities, trucks, compressors and dispensers. Hydrogen cells must have all of these technologies in place to make it meaningful in the marketplace.