For long distance drivers, the electric car may not be a suitable option. Nevertheless, if you are intent on taking advantage of the cleaner technology that is available, you can still choose between the hydrogen “fuel cell” cars and the hybrid cars. The hydrogen fuel cell car is an electric car that uses hydrogen-powered fuel cells. These produce the required electricity for charging the batteries. Hence, the fuel cell vehicles offer the same driving characteristics as electric vehicles. Of course, the fuel cell functions differently from the combustion engine, which basically burns the fuel, whereas the fuel cell is really a power generator that is used to produce electricity by reacting hydrogen with fuel.

Fuel cells tend to generate double the power than what can be harnessed from combustion engines. However, they do tend to run much slower. That is, they do not reach the high travel speeds that combustion engine vehicles are capable of. Generally, in an urban environment, that is not a significant issue, since there are speed law limits in urban areas.

Currently, there are very few existing hydrogen fuel cell cars. Honda leases their fuel cell FCX Clarity vehicles in certain areas such as California, Germany and Japan. Some Microcab fuel cells are currently being tested in the U.K.; for now, they are being used as city cars.

An obvious advantage of cars that run on fuel cells is the quick refill at hydrogen fuelling stations, but in reality, these stations are not readily available in most areas. Currently, there are fewer than a hundred stations worldwide that offer hydrogen filling, with many of them found in Iceland, some parts of the U.K., and California. More hydrogen fuelling stations are likely to be available soon, fortunately, but doubts have arisen over the environmental benefits claimed by hydrogen powered car manufacturers. For example, while there is no emission from such cars, the hydrogen extraction process does use a lot of energy. Extracting hydrogen using electrolysis requires three parts electricity to one part hydrogen generated.

This is not a problem for countries like Iceland, which enjoys lots of electricity and which is currently planning a hydrogen infrastructure to support the future generation of cars that use fuel cells. Meanwhile, Honda is planning to provide home based hydrogen charging stations to its early FCX Clarity customers. Hydrogen would be generated from natural gas, enabling FCX owners to enjoy 250 miles (400km) using just one full hydrogen tank.

Unfortunately, for now these home hydrogen stations are not environmentally friendly, providing only 50 percent performance compared to cars that use conventional combustion engines.

Several manufacturers, including Ford and BMW, have developed cars that can use liquid hydrogen in a modified combustion engine car. These promise zero emissions from the vehicle, using a combustion engine rather than fuel cells:

The build price for this type of hydrogen car is lower than a fuel cell car, as it is built using existing mass-produced technology

• Hydrogen powered combustion engines are only half as efficient as hydrogen fuel cells, meaning more fuel stops
• Until hydrogen fuel stations