Salary
Average Salary: $79,230
Expected Lifetime Earnings: $3,307,694
All told, fuel cell engineers make a pretty penny for their time and effort. The average makes around $80,000 a year, not including benefits like health care, vacation days, and any 401k or pension plans (source). While you'll start closer to $50,000, you'll have ample opportunity to prove you deserve more. As scientific organizations and think tanks receive more funding when they prove themselves useful and innovative, engineers also make more when their projects are successful.
As is typical for research and development positions, you'll be receiving this money as a salary. The salary will depend on a number of things, including experience, education, past developments, and the number of pens you can fit inside your pocket protector.
We're joking about that last one—the answer must always be "at least ten." As you become a senior-level, less accident-prone engineer, you'll see your income level rise to $100,000 and above.
One thing you will not have is the ability to take your ideas and creations and make money off of them yourself. If you work for a company, anything you create that is within the confines of your contract will be owned by the people writing your paychecks. If you want to get all the cash and credit for your fuel cell developments, you'll have to do it on your own. It's not impossible, but also not the easiest way to make a buck either—especially when the big guys start looking at you as competition.
If you work for (as opposed to run) a small start-up instead of a powerhouse (get it?) like GE or General Motors, you'll likely see a lower salary and fewer benefits. Instead you'll receive a certain amount of stock within the company. This means that you have a direct stake in the performance of your employer; as your company grows, the amount of money you get back from it grows as well.
If you work for one of the lucky companies to grow from a mom-and-pop-shop to become synonymous world-wide with the product you create (like the Kleenex of fuel cells), this may work out much better in the long run.
It's up to you to decide whether you prefer the shoestring independence of a small office or the strict corporate hierarchy of a multinational business.
Either way, you're still making more than Nikola Tesla did (source).