Click to play videoShanghai: It's not everyday one gets a police escort while driving in China, but you do if you're behind the wheel of General Motors' Hydrogen Concept car.
"This is the world's most advanced vehicle," says Larry Burns of General Motor's R&D Cell.
This car is the American automaker's latest fuel cell vehicle. Called the 'Sequel', the car can travel 300 miles between refueling stops - about the same as a tank of gasoline. And the only emission is water vapor.
"Fuel cell vehicles are twice as efficient as internal combustion engine vehicles and when you create hydrogen from renewable sources. No carbon dioxide is created either. So there's a real opportunity to literally remove the automobile from the environmental debate," Burns adds.
This is how it works: the car relies on fuel cells, layers of panels or 'stacks' that combine hydrogen and oxygen to generate electricity for the car.
Yet the technology faces a bumpy ride.
"There's a lot of work to be done to get the costs down and the efficiency level up to the point where they're competitive with current technology," says Shane Oilver of AMP Capital Investors.
Another problem is the lack of infrastructure. Governments still need to build a network of stations for hydrogen cars.
Still, General Motors is looking to roll out these cars by the year 2010. They are even considering hydrogen cars for emerging markets like China, where General Motors is the number one carmaker.
"As the China economy continues to grow rapidly, it would be very nice for their cars to be the cleanest," says Burns.
And, if that proves true, perhaps GM will eventually have a clean bill of health as well.
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