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I am working for a very large energy management company.

They have a dedicated R&D department looking at fuel cell technology.

These people say that a practical fuel cell, one for mass consumption is at least 5 years away and possibly further.

In working for this company I have had an opportunity to work directly with a couple of the countrys top energy engineers. They are very sceptical about fuel cells and see nothing on the horizon that is practical or even close to prime time deployment. If you mention fuel cell for a car or truck they will laugh at you and ask you a half dozen (fuel cell deployment) questions for which there is no answer.

Agreed. Fuel Cells...for any practical use are at least 15 years away. Fuel cells will go the way of solar panels...nowhere. Now, hydrogen fuel based equipment I think has very strong merit.

Japan has already rolled out two types of fuel cell vehicles. One a car and one a SUV. The car leases at $6500/month, the SUV at $10,000/month. Definately not prime time, but that's to be expected since they are basically handmaking each vehicle at this point. Roll it out to mass production and the cost decreases significantly.

There's already a fuel station in Nevada that will be able to service FCV. Car makers are building more this year and next in California. GM and Honda will be offering home FC generators (for use with the cars) in 2005. Home systems are expected to be deployed in homes that already have natural gas.

More stations can be found here. PDF format.

There has been a dramatic drop in fuel cell costs, while the density has increased. There will be a need for a standard since there are several different ones on the market at the moment. SOFC, Alkaline, PEM, Zinc/Air, etc. Which stack will win out?

I agree on the five years before mass consumption and it will probably be around 8. It is estimated that it will take another 20 years after that point before there is a complete rollover of fleet vehicles. Gasoline vendors are already looking at a way to retrofit existing stations for the new "hydrogen age".