First of all, the styling on the Hydrogen Fuel Cell car is very cool; it is futuristic without looking freakish.

BMW has had a fleet of hydrogen powered 7-series sedans for years. Their official line is that they will be ready with hydrogen cars when hydrogen stations are ready.

So it seems Honda is beating BMW to the punch by being optimistic that fueling stations will "appear" and offering hydrogen cars for general sale (is 1000 cars truly released for "general sale")? If we are lucky perhaps hydrogen filling stations will come on line in some of the larger "green" cities in the US, like San Fran or LA. I live in Alabama, and we don't even have one E-85 station available to the public in the whole state. I suspect the cars will be lease-only so Honda will have the option of recalling the cars (but probably not crushing them) if the technology doesn't work out.

The hydrogen must be made from a carbon neutral source, otherwise this technology is a losing proposition for the environment. I understand it takes a lot of energy to create the hydrogen equivalent of one gallon of gasoline. If you burn fossil fuels to create the hydrogen, you would be better off just using the fossil fuel itself.

Ultimately hydrogen cars would be great if the initial energy source is renewable. Hydrogen will also help in helping reduce pollutants in urban air.

For the near term, I'm hoping for a cool Honda CR-Z 2 door hybrid in the coming years that can get some great gas mileage. If it doesn't come along, I may be driving an electric motorcycle like Vectrix or Enertia. Even in Alabama we have power outlets...