Why Use Fuel Cells But why are automakers and the government so keen to push fuel cells and not electric cars or plug-in hybrids?
According to Romm, if Detroit can convince us that fuel cells are the answer, all we have to do is wait a decade until salvation arrives. “Certainly General Motors has argued that they shouldn’t be forced to do mundane things like fuel efficiency because they’re working on this holy-grail technology.” Furthermore, the Bush administration “likes the idea of a car that’s ten to fifteen years away.” But Romm points out that even the president’s favor has drifted to plug-ins and ethanol. To be fair, General Motors is the only carmaker thus far to show the world a plug-in hybrid proof-of-concept—the Chevy Volt—but the proof will be in the pudding, or the plugging, as the case may be. However, according to one of the world leaders in fuel-cell production, Ballard Power Systems, the debate between hydrogen and electric-powered cars is a false one. “There is a sense out there that fuel cells and batteries are competing, when really I think that they’re complementary technologies,” said Ballard
