Amid all the talk about electric cars, range-extenders, and
plug-less hybrids, it is worth noting that the world’s car
industry is still working on fuel-cell vehicles. That’s somewhat
surprising considering that the "hydrogen highway" has lingered
out there beyond the horizon for a long time and had perhaps hit
a real roadblock in 2009 when the U.S. Department of Energy
Secretary Steven Chu cut federal R&D funding for fuel-cell
technology, essentially citing it as a bad bet. New vigor in the
area arrived during the past few weeks, however, with
confirmation that Asian automakers remain squarely in the fuel-
cell game. Honda, Hyundai, and Toyota each announced that it is
now preparing to mass-produce cars powered by hydrogen fuel
cells, promising to have them on dealer showroom floors by 2015.
Nissan, in the meantime, unveiled a new concept hydrogen
vehicle. A KPMG global survey of 200 auto executives published
in January found that one in five respondents expected fuel-cell
electric cars to attract more consum