In addition to infrastructure issues the other challenge to the emerging fuel cell industry is the ability to develop fuel cells at a commercially acceptable cost. Fuel cell powered applications will have to compete against traditionally powered applications. The cost of a fuel cell powered family car should be no more than that of its internal combustion-engined counterpart. This will necessitate continuous mass production techniques. The majority of global automotive manufacturers are investing US$ billions into fuel cell research and development in tandem with specialist component suppliers such as Johnson Matthey and TFP. To compete with the internal combustion vehicle it is estimated that each manufacturer will have to produce in the region of 200,000 vehicles per annum. On a global scale this represents a small fraction of output. From 2010 the market growth of fuel cell powered vehicles is anticipated to grow rapidly.

It is however in the use of stand-alone applications that PEM and Phosphoric Acid fuel cells are first likely to be seen as a commercial reality in the next few years.

The emerging fuel cell market will call upon differing skills, expertise, capabilities and techniques drawn across a wide-spread of industrial backgrounds, some not normally associated with power generation. This will bring about alliances and partnerships as various players combine their strengths.