Even though the U.S. Department of Energy announced today that it plans to invest up to $8.2 million for hydrogen storage research, mass production of safe and affordable fuel cells for autos and energy storage is still a long way off.

The exception is the hydrogen fuel cell developed by Shanghai-based Horizon Fuel Cell Technologies. Their fuel cells won’t power full-sized vehicles any time soon, but their technology is on the market for sale in certain hobbyist R/C toy cars.

Today the company announced that it is selling a $1500 hydrogen fuel cell kit for the toy cars. The pricey kit comes with a hydrogen fuel cell power unit with a scaled down fuel storage system that can carry up to 30 liters of solid state hydrogen. The company, of course, claims the product is safe.

Horizon Fuel Cell Technologies’ hydrogen fuel-cell powered H-racer toy car received quite a bit of attention when it was put on the market last year. It was named one of the Best Inventions of 2006 by Time Magazine and it wonBusiness 2.0’s 2007 Bottom Line Design Award.

The $150 H-racer only runs for a few minutes on its fuel cell power. But the $1500 kit’s fuel cell provides about an hour of play, according to a company spokesperson. Also, unlike the cheaper H-racer, the R/C cars with the “H-cell” can be controlled with a remote control.

Is this a sign of the future? Horizon Fuel Cell Technologies is also developing fuel cells for real-size applications in portable power and transportation. But larger applications come with all the safety and cost problems that fuel cell proponents have been facing for years.