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The catch--and it is a big one--is that there are no easy answers as to production and delivery of enough hydrogen for millions of vehicles (http://www.forbes.com/opinions/2008/03/07/solutions-green-car-fuelcell-oped-cx_sk_0307fuelcell.html)

http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/501/Chevrolet_Equinox_FCV.jpgSteve Kichen - Forbes - March 7, 2008

This could be doable, but not in a few years. - Ed

Back in the 1960s, Chrysler stirred up excitement over its engine of the future, the gas turbine. It built 50 test cars and gave average motorists around the country a chance to drive them. (I have a scale model of this beautiful prototype sitting on a bookshelf in my office.) Chrysler dabbled with turbine technology for few more years but eventually gave up on the idea.

Now the auto industry is again exploring a radical new propulsion technology, the fuel cell, and shopping test vehicles around to drivers. But will fuel cells meet the same fate as Chrysler's gas turbine? Not if driving experience is a big factor. On a crisp day in late February, I drove one of General Motors' fuel cell vehicles and found that the driving experience is quite similar to a conventional gasoline-powered car...http://www.forbes.com/opinions/2008/03/07/solutions-green-car-fuelcell-oped-cx_sk_0307fuelcell.html

These very expensive vehicles appear to be part of a technological cul-du-sac that has been fully funded at great taxpayer expense.

Curious, they listed some costs per kilowatt at the bottom of the article which seem exceptionally low. Apparently they're claiming that the current cost of the fuel cell stack runs at $107 per kilowatt. That vehicle has a 93 kW stack, so apparently the cost is just below $10,000. They want it down below $30/kW, or about $2800.

Maybe the guy had memorized the wrong crib sheet -- that sounds much more like the costs I've recently seen for batteries (the big round numbers, anyway)... Last I'd heard, fuel cells were still at least an order of magnitude more expensive.

Still, 40 mpg equivalent? I've seen other sites say either 39 or 50, so I guess it must be about right, but that just doesn't seem very good. A diesel hybrid would do just as well, and a diesel PHEV would be noticeably better.

Hi Mulad:

___The stack and fuel costs are still outrageous but the Clarity is supposedly good for 68 mpg equivalent. Equivalent being miles from a kg of H2 equal to miles from a gallon of gasoline but not until a kg of H2 can be created and pressed up to 5K pounds for the same cost as a gallon of gasoline in quantity. May as well go all electric to begin with before we head into that realm?

___Good Luck

___Wayne