Just more PR to try and convince people there is a future for the automobile. Please only report on solutions that people can use today, not 5 or 10 years from now, if ever. Toyota has plenty of money to do their own greenwashing.

Some news on high-speed rail or transit maybe.

Richard, you are an idealist, right?

Cars aren't going anywhwere for quite a while, and personal mobility is a good thing. It's the side effects that we have to fix.

I'm glad some people are still working on fuel cells, because I think that like the author says, they might be useful for residential and industrial stuff. Once solar panels are very inexpensive, and we have more off-shore wind, we can crack water and store it as hydrogen on very windy/sunny days to keep as buffer for coudy/calm days.

What's the point of fuel cells? They're just like batteries, but more complex, and require a whole new infrastructure!

Storage density. To get 500+ miles out of a battery-powered car would require something like a 1 seat Hummer.

@Anonymous:
I wouldn't exactly agree that personal mobility is a good thing in all respects. Perhaps it can be considered good in the mindset of the late 20th century, during which individuality and nonconformity were cherished above all else. But I'd argue that long-distance personal mobility (the kind enabled by the automobile) is selfish and contrary to the group social structure that enabled humans to colonize the planet in the first place. Mobility in groups over longer distances is always more efficient than individually traveling those distances. These hybrid vehicle jokers need to devote their energy to finding a solution for municipal buses once CNG gets scarce, or for next-generation locomotive engines.

If you prize personal mobility, you can always walk or ride a bicycle.

@Anonymous:
I wouldn't exactly agree that personal mobility is a good thing in all respects. Perhaps it can be considered good in the mindset of the late 20th century, during which individuality and nonconformity were cherished above all else. But I'd argue that long-distance personal mobility (the kind enabled by the automobile) is selfish and contrary to the group social structure that enabled humans to colonize the planet in the first place. Mobility in groups over longer distances is always more efficient than individually traveling those distances. These hybrid vehicle jokers need to devote their energy to finding a solution for municipal buses once CNG gets scarce, or for next-generation locomotive engines.

If you prize personal mobility, you can always walk or ride a bicycle.

"But I'd argue that long-distance personal mobility (the kind enabled by the automobile) is selfish and contrary to the group social structure that enabled humans to colonize the planet in the first place."

What does that even mean? That humans should never change? That if given the choice, people in earlier time wouldn't have chosen more personal mobility? That we should all be ruled by a small group of people who decide what is "best" for society (that's what always happens in "non selfish" societies)?

Do what you want, but keep your collectivism and social engineering to yourself, don't try to impose it on others.

I strongly dislike hydrogen. If for no other reason, because of the effect of a hydrogen gas leak....... water escapes the Earth's atmosphere. We need all the water we already have.

Electric and compressed air are better options IMO.

I'm a realist.

It will be the good old market that encourages people not to chose automobiles. With high fuel prices and rising resource prices, the average person won't be able to afford an automobile much longer.

The new FCHV-adv is not only a significant accomplishment for Toyota, but for the automotive industry. While Honda, General Motors, BMW and many other auto makers are working on their versions of hydrogen vehicles, Toyota’s achievement proves that research is the only way to push the limitations of current hydrogen technologies and improve upon them.

In the past several months, the hydrogen industry has made great strides highlighting the range of applications that hydrogen can be used to improve our lives. Argonne lab test results of BMW’s Hydrogen 7, which includes a hydrogen internal combustion engine instead of fuel cell stack, found that the combustion process actually cleaned the ambient air, proving how hydrogen technologies can improve the environment. Angstrom is working with Motorola to bring the first fuel cell cell phone by 2010. Boeing recently tested the first manned fuel cell airplane. All these accomplishments reflect steady progress within the hydrogen industry.

Honda’s preparation to begin leasing there FCX Clarity marks the beginning of a transition bring hydrogen technologies to consumers. However, we should also keep in that there are hydrogen technologies in use today which are not as visible to the public. As a representative of the Hydrogen Education Foundation, I am helping people to understand that separate from the frequent emphasis on hydrogen cars, the reality is hydrogen can be used to power many applications. The next cell phone call you make could be powered by hydrogen since fuel cell power supplies support cell phone towers. The next time you shop at Wal-Mart the box of Oreo cookies and the new Blue Ray movie you purchase could be transported with a fuel cell forklift, or may have been driven across the country on a semi-truck using a hydrogen injection system.

As Michael mentioned above, the progress in research and development across the hydrogen industry will continue to push existing technologies and developing new ones as improvements are made on existing applications. If we take a moment to reflect on the progress made with computers, we can appreciate how far PC technology has improved over the years increasing speed, processing power, and storage capacity. Each generation of PC technology has improved - the same will happen with hydrogen technologies as Toyota has proven.

To learn more about the benefits of hydrogen, we invite everyone to please visit www.h2andyou.org.