GM and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) have entered into a five-year, $88-million agreement to build a 40-vehicle hydrogen fuel cell demonstration and testing fleet.

Under the program, GM will spend $44-million to deploy fuel cell vehicle fleets in Washington D.C., New York , California and Michigan. The DOE will contribute the other $44 million under an agreement that expires in September 2009.

Through a separate, commercial agreement, Shell Hydrogen will set up five hydrogen refueling stations in Washington, DC., metropolitan New York City, between Washington D.C. and New York, and in California to support the demo fleet.

Other program partners include the U.S. Army at Ft. Belvoir, Va. and Quantum Technologies in Lake Forest, Calif. – providing facilities for GM to store and maintain fuel cell vehicles; NextEnergy in Detroit, Mich. for codes and standards development; and Viewpoint Systems in Rochester, New York for collecting and retrieving data remotely.

GM also will announced details of a collaboration with the  U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) later this week.