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You don't need a weatherman to know which way the federal funding for green vehicle technology research has been flowing.


The Clinton administration favored plug-in hybrid electric vehicle research. The Bush administration steered funding to hydrogen fuel-cell research. And who hasn't heard President Obama's repeated pledge to have 1 million plug-in hybrid electric vehicles on American roads by 2015?


But some in Washington, D.C. are cautioning against the anticipated swing of federal funding back to plug-in hybrids at the expense of hydrogen technology research.


"I hope that we will avoid again putting all of our eggs in one technology basket," U.S. Rep. Brian Baird (D, Wash.) said while chairing a Tuesday hearing in Washington, D.C., by the House Subcommittee on Energy and Environment. "While we must be targeted in our federal R&D programs, this single-minded approach ignores the importance of balancing a diverse portfolio with sustained funding for longer-term research."


Subsequent testimony by Steven Chalk suggested that the principal deputy assistant secretary for the Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy has taken to heart Obama's 2015 pledge.
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Tags: Alternative Fuels, BMW, Batteries, Fuel Cell, Fuels & Technologies, Hybrid, Hydrogen, Legislation, Plug-ins and Electric, BMW, Hydrogen Fuel Cell, Legislation, Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles

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Federal Funding Shifting Away From Fuel Cells, Back to Plug-In Hybrids? was originally published by Green Car Advisor. Read the full story by clicking here.