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This is all ARB needs to know in order to reinstate the mandate
---NOW!  18 YEARS OF VALUABLE EV MILES HAVE BEEN DENIED TO CA.
BECAUSE ARB CAVED IN TO GM.    THE PROMISE OF FUEL CELLS.  THE
MYTH OF FUEL CELLS BY 2010 REVEALED!
IT IS THE BATTERY, STUPID!


March 5, 2008
GM, Toyota Doubtful on Fuel Cells' Mass Use


GENEVA -- Top executives from General Motors Corp. and Toyota
Motor 
Corp. Tuesday expressed doubts about the viability of hydrogen
fuel 
cells for mass-market production in the near term and suggested
their 
companies are now betting that electric cars will prove to be a 
better way to reduce fuel consumption and cut tailpipe emissions
on a 
large scale.

Speaking at the Geneva auto show, GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz told 
reporters that recent advances in lithium-ion batteries indicate
that 
future electric cars might be able to travel 300 miles, or nearly
500 
kilometers, before they need to recharge, making them much more 
practical as a mass-market product.

"If we get lithium-ion to 300 miles, then you need to ask
yourself, 
Why do you need fuel cells?" Mr. Lutz told reporters. He added
that 
fuel-cell vehicles are still far too expensive to be considered
for 
the mass market. "We are nowhere [near] where we need to be on
the 
costs curve," he said.

At a separate event at the show, Toyota President Katsuaki
Watanabe 
echoed the concern about the high costs of fuel cells and noted
the 
lack of an infrastructure to produce and distribute hydrogen fuel
to 
a wide swath of consumers. These factors leave him with the 
impression that "it will be difficult to see the spread of fuel
cells 
in 10 years' time," Mr. Watanabe said.

The comments indicate a shift in the auto industry's tone
regarding 
fuel cells, especially at GM, which has spent the past two years 
highlighting its fuel-cell technologies as one of many initiatives
it 
is pursuing to reduce petroleum consumption.