THE FREEDOM CAR AND FUEL PARTNERSHIP

The FreedomCAR and Fuel Partnership is a collaboration among the U.S. government, in particular the Department of Energy (DOE); the U.S. Council for Automotive Research (USCAR), whose members are Chrysler LLC, the Ford Motor Company, and General Motors Corporation; and five key energy companies: BP America, Chevron Corporation, ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil Corporation, and Shell Hydrogen (U.S.).

The program supports a very wide variety of research activities needed to enable a transition pathway for automotive transportation. The pathway starts with internal combustion engines (ICEs) more efficient than today’s, proceeds through the increasing use of a variety of ICE hybrid electric vehicles, and then, by 2015, arrives at the point where the private sector can make a decision, based on information generated by the Partnership, about the commercialization of fuel-cell-powered vehicles fueled by economically competitive hydrogen produced from a variety of energy sources. Research goals have been established that, if achieved, promise to overcome the many, high-risk barriers to achieving this vision.

A major strength of the FreedomCAR and Fuel Partnership is that the research it sponsors is determined by joint industry/government teams request $1.7 billion over 5 years (FY04 through FY08), with appropriations thus far of about $243 million, $307 million, and $339 million in FY04, FY05, and FY06, respectively. The FY07 continuing resolution resulted in funding of about $401 million. The FY08 presidential budget request is for about $436 million.

There remain many barriers to achieving the objectives of the Partnership, including cost and performance at the vehicle, system, and component levels.

Does that mean a underfunded, overstretched goal, results in an expensive underperforming vehicles…