The European Union has endorsed the hydrogen fueled
engine which must make Rudolf Erren, first populariser
of hydrogen fuel for transport in the 1930s, perk up 
in his grave.  For his only reward for making more 
hydrogen vehicles back then than have ever been made 
since was an ovation at a hydrogen conference in the 
1970s.  This and many other important facts of 
hydrogen history are related in David Hoffmann's book
"The Forever Fuel",usually only a few dollars on
Amazon.

It is telling that at the conference of his ovation,
Erren was denouncing the "research money for hydrogen
forever" mentality, a stance only too substantiated
since then.

It is the job of Hydrogen Now to distinguish what is
truly hydrogen now and what is hydrogen later maybe.
From the EU statement (no official report at the
present time) it would appear,reading between the
lines, that there is a distancing from the fuel cell
into which the EU has poured billions.

There is the timing.  The HyICE study began three 
years ago, at a time when the continuing problems
of the PEM technology began to be widely voiced.

There is the technology itself.  No clear plan has
evolved for Pem systems to meet the price of an 
engine-$500 for a 300 horsepower V8.

Then there are technologies specifically utilizing
hydrogen's ability to utilise compression ratios
in the hundreds.  Sandia labs reports a free piston 
engine with electic linear generator power output
going at 24,000 strokes per minute.  The device is so 
simple, with less moving parts than a fuel cell,
that production in Chungking, Jamshatpur or Cebu City
would likely cost less than $100 for a 100 KW engine.
This excludes electronics and drive motor which fuel
cells would also require.

The Eu is hedging its bets.  There are advanced fuel 
cells, such as SOFC. They may win in the long run.
But it seems to Hydrogen Now that the EU is signalling
that as of now, engines are an immediate option.