Cruisin' the hydrogen highway

Cruisin' the hydrogen highway By Philip Reed Email | Blog Date posted: 10-12-2006
STORY TOOLS PRINT THIS SAVE THIS EMAIL THIS MOST POPULAR Even as Honda plows forward with plans to be the first to introduce a fuel-cell production car, I found myself strangely uninterested in this alternative-energy vehicle. It seemed like an outdated look into the future, like finding a back issue of Popular Mechanics that said flying cars would be the next big thing.
Then one Sunday, the odd-looking, zero-emissions 2005 Honda FCX was delivered to my house. It sat there while I wrestled with how to fill it up with hydrogen on the weekend. I began to view it as a giant pain, an albatross that would never be more than a footnote in the history of transportation.
But then I drove it.
After about 20 seconds of beeps, whirs and strange groans, the display panel flashed "Ready to Drive." I slid it into gear and pulled onto the hydrogen highway. Within a mile, I knew what I would say in my review: Make the cost of this car competitive, make hydrogen stations readily available, and I'd be content to drive one of these babies from here on out.
But huge questions loom: Can you manufacture hydrogen inexpensively? Can you ship and store it safely? Answers to those questions are being hotly investigated by many more qualified minds than mine. And they are questions that will need to be answered before Honda's production vehicle, to be released in two years, can be more than just a pilot program. All I can tell you about is how it feels to drive this car. Cut back to me driving the FCX and push in for a tight shot revealing a smile on my face. Much more @: http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do/Drives/FullTests/articleId=117077?imw=Y