Test-driving the hydrogen future

"The stubby Honda two-door cut through Manhattan traffic like a skateboard. It accelerated smoothly, braked quietly, and-best of all-consumed no gasoline and generated no greenhouse gases. Sticker price: upwards of $1 million. The car I was driving was the Honda FCX, and it may be the automobile of the future-one especially attractive to business owners hit by rising fuel prices. The FCX is powered by a fuel cell that converts hydrogen gas into electricity. (Fossil fuels are used on a smaller scale to refine and transport the hydrogen.) Unlike clunky, earlier versions, this one drives like a regular production model. Behind the wheel, the technology is almost transparent. All the controls-accelerator, brake, accessory switches-are identical to those in a typical car. The FCX makes hardly any noise and accelerates smoothly, with none of the gearshifting that you feel in a gas-powered car." Source: cnn.com