ABI has updated its forecasts for fuel cell vehicle shipments in the study and also updated its analysis of the changing global fuel cell business environment. The study exposes regional characteristics of the automotive fuel cell sector and outlines a timeline for potential fuel cell penetration in the next ten years.

The number of fuel cell vehicles that will be introduced to the world in the coming decade will reach 800,000 by 2012, according to a new study by research firm Allied Business Intelligence (ABI). ABI believes that greater attention is finally being given to fuel cells, and there is as much awareness in the European Union as there is in Japan. "The US will have to more aggressively execute its strategy of solving technological challenges and infrastructure layouts if it is to help early fuel cell vehicle introduction by the second half of the decade," explains Atakan Ozbek, ABI Director of Energy Research and author of the study. "Recent announcements by the Bush administration to increase funding of hydrogen and automotive fuel cell research are a necessary right step in this direction."

However, due to powerful energy stakeholders in the US—namely, the oil industry—the US has to push the fuel cell sector toward meaningful infrastructure deployment.

ABI has updated its forecasts for fuel cell vehicle shipments in the study and also updated its analysis of the changing global fuel cell business environment. The study exposes regional characteristics of the automotive fuel cell sector and outlines a timeline for potential fuel cell penetration in the next ten years.

The new ABI report, "Automotive Fuel Cells: Global Market Issues, Technology Dynamics, and Major Players," analyzes market opportunities for automotive fuel cells from passenger cars to buses and trucks. Niche market opportunities, including fleet applications and airport ground support vehicles, are also covered. The study details the technical challenges and opportunities from both market/economic and environmental perspectives. The major players in the industry are delineated, along with the status of their technologies and the most likely applications in the near term, from 2002 to 2012.