The New York Times reported today that the U.S. government has cut off funds for the development of hydrogen fuel cells for powering automobiles. Large-scale adoption of cars powered by hydrogen fuel cells would require a national hydrogen distribution network. The administration deems this impractical.  It will continue to pay for research on stationary fuel cells, which would not require such a distribution system. (For more on fuel cells, see this post.)

Though there is no consensus yet, it is looking more likely every day that the future of automotive travel lies in electric vehicles supplied by batteries.

The same article said that the administration would probably reverse a Bush-era decision to cut off funding for development of carbon capture and sequestration technology. (I wrote about that here.)