There's also the possibility that it is a social engineering effort to get people to switch away from fossil fuels in a positive way ("I've switched to hydrogen

There's also the possibility that it is a social engineering effort to get people to switch away from fossil fuels in a positive way ("I've switched to hydrogen cells to save the planet!" rather than "Goddamn fuel prices are so high I can't even drive to work anymore! And what the hell are the politicians doing about it?") in a timescale that allows a transition without impending widescale economic meltdown. "Things have to change within 100 years" is not something that will get shareholders signing checks for R&D and wholesale changes to business practices unless there is considerable pressure from the overall consumer population. That does assume that benevolence has a higher priority in the world than profit of course. I'm not sure.