America 2025: Electron Drive

An automotive visionary explains why fuel cells really will take on internal-combustion engines. It’s a hydrogen-powered “mobile lounge” with swivel seats that out-swanks earlier limos. The electronically controlled tinted windows provide privacy when desired. No, you can’t buy one. Like several cars on the following pages, this Volkswagen concept was sketched for a January 2005 competition called Design Los Angeles.

PM: There’s huge excitement–some would say hype–about hydrogen fuel cell technology. How serious are automakers about these cars? COLE: General Motors, Toyota and others are using hundreds of people in the effort. GM says that it has already spent a billion dollars on fuel cell research. But just think back to the days of the carburetor. We knew then that fuel injection was the better way to feed engines. But it took 30 years to make that relatively simple change–an alteration to the existing engine. Think of how much greater the switch from an internal-combustion engine to a fuel cell system is, and how much longer that could take.

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