While President Bush’s promise to free up $1.2 billion for research may help scientists push down the cost of hydrogen-powered cars, it might be many years before such innovative designs reach the public, let alone wean the United States off its oil dependency.

In his State of the Union speech last week, the President pledged to set aside the funds for developing mass-produced automobile that use fuel cells for power instead of gasoline. Fuel cell cars run on hydrogen and oxygen, and produce water vapor as a byproduct instead of smog. They also represent an energy source independent of trade agreements with other countries.

"It certainly is a great start, but this has to be a long term commitment," said electrochemist John Turner, a fuel cell researcher at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colorado.

"This is clearly not a drop in the bucket," said Matt Fronk, chief engineer for fuel cell research and development at General Motors, of the promised government funds. "We’re certainly interested to find out what specifically this money will be used for."

The process is about 100 years old and NASA has used fuel cells to power its space ships since the 1960s, the first aboard Gemini 5 in 1965. Today’s space shuttles each carry three fuel cells, each weighing 255 pounds (about 156 kilograms).

Together they generate a maximum of 21,000 watts to power the shuttle orbiter, but reach up to 36,000 watts in short, 15-minute bursts if needed. Despite their track record, fuel cell failures shortened two shuttle missions, once in 1981 and again in 1997.

On terra firma, the auto industry has begun in recent years to incorporate the technology into various cars and trucks. General Motors is currently undergoing the first commercial test of its Zafira fuel cell car in Japan. The company also developed the Hy-wire, a fuel cell powered vehicle that is completely electronic. Meanwhile, Toyota fuel cell researchers delivered their first market-ready cars to two California University’s last month, and recently unveiled their Fine-S hydrogen-powered concept vehicle.

"We’ve said all along that developing the hydrogen infrastructure is critical to the success of these cars," Toyota spokeswoman Diana DeJoseph told SPACE.com. "We’re very encouraged by the President’s support of this."

Developing that infrastructure, however, is easier said than done.

"You really have to take this idea with a pinch of salt," said G.K. Surya Prakash, fuel cell researcher and chair of hydrocarbon chemistry at the University of Southern California, in an interview. "There are problems with hydrogen storage, transportation and delivery into the cars and no one is talking about these things."

Hydrogen has to be kept cold, around -418 degrees Fahrenheit (–250 degrees Celsius), to keep it from boiling into a gas, Prakash said. As a gas, it can diffuse through a number of solids so transporting it is difficult and the cost of hydrogen fuel cells are up to 100 times as expensive as gasoline.

Prakash also pointed out that hydrogen has to come from somewhere too, whether it’s separated from water through electrolysis – which uses electricity – or reformed from fossil fuels. While fuel cells may be clean for the environment, some methods to make hydrogen aren’t.

Turner contests that there has already been a hydrogen infrastructure in place in the United States for decades. Industrial welders need hydrogen to work, and hydrogen producers can be found in the yellow pages. The concept of fuel cell power, itself, is old hat.

"We know how these fuel cells work," Turner said. "Astronauts use them on the space shuttle for power and they drink the byproduct water. Their lives depend on these things."

By allocating funds for fuel cell research, President Bush’s move could also increase the nation’s energy security, providing for a more self-reliant fuel alternative to gasoline and oil.

"Fuel cells can power our transportation and light our homes, and at the same time reduce dependence on importing foreign oil," Turner said.

But implementing fuel cell automobiles and buses, not to mention power plants for homes or modified versions for airplanes, would effect the gas and oil trade from shipping tankers all the way down to service stations.

"We’re talking about replacing a trillion dollar industry here," Turner said. Incorporating hydrogen-powered cars into the personal transportation fold is a massive undertaking on the scale of the building of the country’s interstate highway system, he added.

That seems like a slow approach, but most the pieces of fuel cell transportation – the cars and hydrogen production technology – are available. One simple plan, Turner said, would be to put a centralized hydrogen service station in a city for fleet vehicles such as buses and taxis.

But the cost is still prohibitive, and since portions of current fuel cells consist of expensive metals such as platinum and other designer materials, it’s not likely to go down soon.

"My feeling is that this is a major bottleneck for the fuel cell in cars," Prakash said.