Even though manufacturers like Honda are coming out with environmentally-friendly hydrogen cars, they are restricted to a very small market due to a lack of infrastructure required to make them a widespread vehicle option. In other words, until fueling stations for the cars become commonplace, consumers shouldn't expect to see mass production and distribution of the vehicles. However Barney Rush, the CEO of H2Gen Innovations, a company that makes that use natural gas to make hydrogen, says his company could help solve this problem with their machines. So far the machines have been used to produce hydrogen for industrial purposes but plans to expand their business to include the production of hydrogen for cars.

Right now the U.S. has roughly five dozen hydrogen fueling stations, but these are primarily used for fleet vehicles. In order for 70 per cent of Americans to have access to a hydrogen fueling station, 12,000 stations would need to be established and would serve anywhere from 10 million to 20 million vehicles. It seems like it would be worth it: Rush says his company can make hydrogen for a cost equivalent to $2.50 per gallon of gasoline. Rush adds that the natural gas lines required to erect these stations already exists under most city streets in the U.S.

The news is promising, yet the prospect of enough fueling stations to service fuel cell cars seems distant as consumers face soaring oil costs right now. There's no way to predict how long it will actually take until these stations start to materialize (and the cars as well, of course), so for now this news is met with far more skepticism than enthusiasm.

» Reuters Environment