U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Joins California Fuel Cell Partnership

    WEST SACRAMENTO, Calif.--July 12, 2002--The California Fuel Cell Partnership (CaFCP) today announced that the United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) has joined its public-private venture to demonstrate and promote fuel cell vehicles as a technology both environmentally safe and commercially viable.
    The Partnership -- which started in April 1999 -- includes auto manufacturers (DaimlerChrysler, Ford, GM, Honda, Hyundai, Nissan, Toyota and Volkswagen); energy providers (BP, ExxonMobil, Shell Hydrogen, and ChevronTexaco); fuel cell companies (Ballard Power Systems and UTC Fuel Cells); and government agencies (California Air Resources Board, California Energy Commission, South Coast AQMD, US Department of Energy, US Department of Transportation and now US EPA).
    The EPA, through its Office of Transportation and Air Quality, is responsible for the national motor vehicle air pollution program. This responsibility includes developing national standards for reducing tailpipe emissions and developing test procedures for measuring tailpipe pollution. EPA is also active in evaluating environmental performance and costs of cleaner vehicles, including alternative fuel vehicles and their fuels. EPA's National Vehicle and Fuel Emissions Laboratory in Ann Arbor, Michigan will soon be a state-of-the-art testing center for fuel cell vehicles and components.
    "EPA is excited about the potential for fuel cells to be the long term solution for reconciling transportation and the environment," said Margo T. Oge, Director of the Office of Transportation and Air Quality. "We look forward to supporting the ambitious goals of the California Fuel Cell Partnership by making our testing facilities available and by providing objective assessments of the emissions performance and fuel efficiency of the new fuel cell vehicles as they emerge."
    The Partnership is a voluntary effort to advance a new automobile technology that could move the world toward practical and affordable environmental solutions. CaFCP is demonstrating fuel cell-powered electric vehicles under real day-to-day driving conditions; testing alternative fuels and demonstrating the viability of an alternative fuel infrastructure technology; exploring the path to commercialization; and increasing public awareness of fuel cell electric vehicles. The Partnership expects to place more than 60 fuel cell passenger cars and fuel cell buses on the road by the end of 2003.