A transport bill including $65 million for fuel cell buses has been proposed by the US House of Representatives.

If passed, the bill will award $64.8 million to the Fuel Cell Bus Technology Demonstration programme, a cost-shared, competitively awarded grant with a maximum of four projects to be selected from geographically diverse areas of the country.

The initiative covers hydrogen production, energy storage, fuel cell technologies, vehicle systems integration and power electronics technologies.

The programme will focus on technology integration, testing, demonstration and validation of fuel cell vehicle technologies and supporting infrastructure.

"Today's decision is a wonderful first step in bringing fuel cell technology to America's transit industry. Having said that, the fuel cell industry believes a more robust program is necessary to accelerate full scale commercialisation," stated Robert Rose, executive director of the US Fuel Cell Council.

Rose pointed to the ten city programme already under way in Europe, the CUTE program, as a example of the scale of programme the Council supports and the industry needs.

The bill also amends the list of projects that are eligible under the Clean Fuels Formula Grants program to allow for constructing new facilities as well as improving existing facilities.

The legislation will be voted on by the full US government next week, with the scheme hinting at the growing maturity of the fuel cell industry.