Abstract: Fuel cell vehicle commercialization is a goal of automobile enterprises in many countries with only few demonstrational researches made in China. This paper surveys the researches and developments of fuel cell vehicles in the United States, including the research input, mass-production and the commercial demonstration in recent five years and analyzes the market progress of fuel cell buses, light-duty vehicles and forklifts. The results show that a large number of supporting technologies are being researched and developed in the United States, resulting in fuel cell cost rapidly reduced and hydrogen supply infrastructures constructed in perfect order. Fuel-cell-vehicle commercial application becomes valuable for some specific areas such as fuel cell forklifts and buses with light-duty vehicles still not meeting the requirement of commercialization. Suggestions are given for the fuel-cell-vehicle commercialization in China in consideration of the results mentioned above.

Key words: fuel cell vehicles, hydrogen supply infrastructures, United States of America, research input, commercialization demonstration, forklifts