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Dec. 8, 2006 - Jon Spallino’s commute to work is unlike yours. Sure, he hops in his Honda, listens to NPR and sits in traffic for an hour. But his Honda spews hot water out its tailpipe instead of greenhouse gases and carbon dioxide. Does your car do that? Spallino, who lives with his wife, Sandy, and two young daughters in Redondo Beach, Calif., gets to feel better about his commute because the automaker chose him as the first public test driver of its FCX hydrogen fuel-cell-powered car. For a year and a half now, the Spallinos have used the car as a daily driver to see how it functions in the real world. They’ve experienced just a single mishap: a flat tire.

You could argue that the Spallinos, who pay $500 per month for their FCX lease, are Honda’s dog-and-pony show, yanked around so the media can see that the company is committed to hydrogen technology. But Honda is indeed poised to begin a big rollout of a hydrogen-powered vehicle in 2008, which it’s been showing off at the L.A. Auto Show this last week. There’s no word yet on price, but the sedan comfortably seats four and drives as easily as any car on the road today. Plus, it looks so cool and futuristic.

So it begins, sooner rather than later, this onslaught of alternative-fuel cars. General Motors chose the Los Angeles show to reveal a new plug-in hybrid power system for its Saturn Vue SUV, claiming it will get 45 percent better fuel economy than the gasoline-powered Vue.

DaimlerChrysler and Volkswagen are touting new diesel-powered sedans and wagons, which run cleaner than existing diesel cars and get 25 percent better mileage than their gasoline-powered equivalents. Nissan, Saturn, Toyota and Lexus all displayed new electric-gasoline hybrids. Within the next year or so, expect to see a growing number of alternative-fuel cars on the load: autos that run on a blend of ethanol and gasoline, hybrids that use diesel instead of gas, even cars powered by cooking oil from your pantry.

Honda’s FCX is just one of several hybrid hydrogen-fuel-cell-powered models being tested by carmakers. GM is in the advanced stages of developing a hydrogen version of its Chevy Equinox and will lease the first 100 next fall in a program called Project Driveway (beginning in a few months, GM will seek applicants on its Chevy.com Web site to sign up as test drivers). The company won’t reveal yet how much the leases will go for, but as with any new technology the price for this car is likely to be significantly higher than its gasoline-engine equivalent. GM’s Dave Barthmuss says the carmaker will decide how quickly to deliver the cars to showrooms based on how well the Project Driveway test goes, how quickly the national fueling infrastructure expands and how much manufacturing costs decrease.

BMW has also entered the hydrogen game with its Hydrogen 7, a modified version of its flagship full-size sedan that runs on a hybrid gas-and-hydrogen engine. The automaker has eschewed fuel cells to propel its car, saying liquid hydrogen offers more zip. The technology works, but it’s expensive-–even by BMW standards-–and some experts say that in warm climates it will be tough to keep hydrogen cold enough to maintain its liquid form. BMW dismisses the criticism and plans to prove its technology by giving out 25 of its Hydrogen 7 cars in the U.S. to “public opinion shapers” (read: celebrities and high-profile partygoers). “We have put a hydrogen car on the ground,” says BMW’s Andreas Klugescheid. “This car is no longer a handcrafted car, it is a production-model car.”

The beauty of hydrogen-fuel-cell technology is that the cars discharge only water as exhaust, a byproduct of hydrogen mixing with oxygen. Emissions don’t get cleaner than that. But current hydrogen fuel is mainly extracted from petroleum, still making us dependant on foreign oil, and still a source of pollution. That’s just a temporary problem, as energy providers search for cheaper ways to extract hydrogen from the sun, wind and water, says GM’s Barthmuss. “It’s very important for all of us to get on the hydrogen path today and not worry about where the hydrogen comes from,” he says. “It will be produced renewably eventually as more of us buy into the technology and provide an impetus for cleaner ways to get at the hydrogen.”

Of course, there’s the chicken-and-egg scenario: what good is a hydrogen car without a refueling infrastructure? California leads the nation with 23 hydrogen fueling stations and 14 more planned for the coming year—not very many. Shell operates a commercial hydrogen station in Washington, D.C., and will open three in New York City and four in Los Angeles. The California Hydrogen Highways program is planning to build 250 hydrogen refueling stations in the state. “By 2010, we’ll have enough hydrogen filling stations that you’ll be able to drive from one end of the state to the other without worrying about running out of fuel,” says Chris White of the California Fuel Cell Partnership, a consortium of automakers, energy companies and government agencies.

You need only look at the success of Toyota’s Prius to see that, when it comes to green automotive technology, as California goes so goes the nation. Toyota first launched its gas-electric hybrid in California six years ago to much success and has now sold about 326,000 cars across the country. Automakers expect the same thing will happen with hydrogen vehicles. In the meantime, several large and small vehicles are being introduced that get improved mileage and are less polluting. Though the Prius is still the mileage leader with a 60mpg rating in the city and very low emissions, more hybrids are coming to a showroom near you. Look for 2007 models of the Nissan Altima, Saturn Aura, Toyota Camry and Lexus LS600.

Mercedes-Benz is bullish on diesel. In October, it began selling its midsize E Class with the cleaner-burning diesel engine, called Bluetec, in 45 states. Though Bluetec technology is successful at cutting diesel emissions, it requires urea (yes, the same component found in urine) to keep the exhaust clean. The five states that won’t register diesel cars—including California, which represents more than 10 percent of all new cars sold in America—are concerned that once the urea tank runs dry, consumers won’t replenish it, causing the diesel to turn dirty. Carmakers are negotiating with the EPA and environmental agencies in the five holdout states to allow the cars to be sold. “California is a very, very big market for us, so we will resolve this issue and hope to sell our Bluetec cars there by 2008,” says Mercedes-Benz’s Rob Moran. Meantime, several manufacturers, including Volkswagen and Audi, are adopting Bluetec.

And then there’s the promise of ethanol fuels, which are already popular in parts of the Midwest. About 6 million flexible-fuel ethanol vehicles are on the road today. These cars and trucks readily accept E85 gasoline—a blend of 85 percent ethanol (which is mostly derived from corn) and 15 percent petroleum-based gasoline. DaimlerChrysler says it will make one quarter of its vehicles flex-fuel E85 certified within the next two years. But ethanol isn’t the magic bullet, either. It’s significantly less fuel-efficient than diesel and gasoline.

Biodiesel, while readily available from soy and other plant-based oils, is also rife with problems. Vehicle warranties are nullified if car owners use more than 5 percent biodiesel in the tank. That’s because injection systems can get mucked up by the viscous fluid. DaimlerChrysler’s Nick Cappa says the company is working on engines that can accommodate a higher percentage of biodiesel. In the meantime, DaimlerChrysler will sell a B5 (up to 5 percent biodiesel) version of its popular Jeep Grand Cherokee early next year. Three years from now, GM’s big gas-guzzling Hummer will be outfitted with a flexible-fuel tank, able to drink E85 ethanol or biodiesel. Of course by then, alternative-fuel cars will be well on their way toward losing their cutting-edge status.

URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16115734/site/newsweek/page/3/