Found in Los Angeles: the solution to global warming

Honda tests its clean car of the future in the California city that's fallen out of love with the American gas-guzzler

The first time James Hahn, the mayor of Los Angeles, clapped eyes on a hydrogen fuel-cell car, it was love at first sight. He had been out to the city's experimental hydrogen refuelling station, no more than a mobile trailer in the car park of the Department of Water and Power, and became fascinated as the gas was transferred from a cluster of bottles - all set at different pressures - into the fuel tank of a city Honda FCX, a prototype for what the car industry hopes will be the automotive wave of the future.

"Hey, I like this," Mayor Hahn told Mark Barrera, the manager of the city's 240-odd vehicles. "Can I take it home?" Mr Barrera said: "Well, I don't know. I'll need approval for that." Mr Hahn said: "Okay, I'm the mayor. I'll give you approval." And off he went, to impress his family and his neighbours with the newfangled vehicle which makes almost no noise as it races through the streets, and whose exhaust emits only water pure enough to drink.

Actually, Mayor Hahn has long been an ardent champion of alternative car technologies. (So would you, if your city was one of the most notoriously smog-ridden, car-infested metropolises on the planet.) So when Honda offered to lease him a few FCX prototypes to help with the development process, he jumped at the chance.

Without the benefits of economy of scale, each vehicle costs Honda $1.5m to make. But the company offered them to LA at bargain basement prices: just $500 a month per vehicle, with the hydrogen fuel thrown in. The first was delivered last December, and two more since. A further two will be offered.

There are only a few fuel-cell cars around, a handful in Tokyo, and at a few select institutions of higher learning. Aside from Honda, Toyota is also developing fuel-cell vehicles. Thanks to the special lease programme, Los Angeles is the only city where they are in use on the open road.

For the first few months, the cars had to be towed down to Honda's HQ in Torrance, a good half-hour's drive from City Hall, to be refilled. That limited practical use. But the refuelling station opened in May, which means the cars can be driven like any other by the mayor, any of his staff or the 15 members of the LA city council..

The cars have been taken to schools as educational stunts. They have participated in alternative-fuel rallies. And, on one memorable occasion in June, Councilman Eric Garcetti drove one to the St Regis Hotel in Century City for an event with President George Bush.

There was only one snag: Councilman Garcetti left the keys with a parking valet, who could not comprehend how the car made no noise after the ignition was engaged. The valet kept turning the key in the hope of hearing an engine roaring into life, and as a result drained the capacitor. Suddenly, this bizarre, abandoned, non-functioning car became the object of extraordinary interest, not least from the secret service. Who did it belong to? Could it be dangerous? Mr Barrera suddenly found himself with a lot of explaining to do.

Mostly, the fuel-cell experiment has gone without a hitch. The managers from Honda are almost insatiably thirsty for information, quizzing each user on his or her experience of the vehicle. A tracking device akin to a black box recorder on board an aircraft has been installed in each of the city's fuel-cell cars, and every other week a technician from Honda comes to City Hall to download the information.

Mr Barrera has taken it on himself to test the car in different environments. As I experienced when I went for a spin with him, there is no problem accelerating up hills. The FCX also performs splendidly on the LA freeways, the only problem being that cars which get too close at the rear can occasionally find exhaust water spitting on their windscreens. (Worth it, Mr Barrera says, as they look up into the clear blue sky for signs of rain and then shake their heads in confusion.)

Recently, he took a fuel-cell car to an altitude of 6,000ft on Angeles Crest in the San Gabriel mountains, then down to the Pacific Ocean. Again, no problem. A single tank of fuel takes the car only 130 miles. Clearly, that is an area for Honda to work on.

But Mr Barrera wonders what would happen at sub-zero temperatures, especially since the water coming out of the exhaust grille would be prone to freezing. He cannot hope for that kind of cold to come naturally to southern California. "One day I'll drive this thing into a giant meat-freezer," he said. Honda says freezing temperatures should be no problem.

The technology of the fuel-cell car is beautifully simple. The compressed hydrogen in the fuel tank combines with oxygen to generate electricity, stored in a capacitor or a battery, which in turn drives the motor. The Bush administration is all in favour of it and has allocated $1.7bn (£1,06bn) over the next five years or development of a viable commercial vehicle and for the enormous changes in infrastructure required to build a network of hydrogen refuelling stations. From Honda's point of view, it makes sense to bring a big city like Los Angeles on board early because of its lobbying power with the US Government and also its willingness to seek innovative solutions for its own transport problems.

"This technology has a great future, for trains and buses as well as personal vehicles," Brian Williams, LA's deputy mayor with special responsibility for transportation, said. "We have environmental challenges in LA as well as traffic congestion. Our approach is to try to remove some of the cars, or if we can't remove them, then switch to new technology."

The LA City Hall fleet included natural-gas cars when they were briefly hailed as the next big thing, and electrical cars before it was decided they simply could not travel far enough. Now the city, like many of its residents, is big on hybrids, combination electric-petrol cars that win big points for fuel efficiency and produce minimal emissions.

The timeline for commercial fuel-cell cars is less certain: at least five years, and possibly as much as 20. Until then, if you want to drive one, you will have to get approval from LA City Hall.

HOW IT DRIVES

The Honda FCX is a straightforward design, based on the electrical EV+ model. When you turn the key, an electronic display flashes the words "System Check", followed a few moments later by the all-clear, "Ready to Drive". There is no noise other than a low hum reminiscent of a washing machine.

Although it takes a couple of minutes to warm up, it accelerates nicely and comfortably manages speeds of up to 85 mph. The engine is almost uncannily silent, although at speeds of 45 mph and more one can hear a highish whine. The display gives you a constant read of the "distance to empty" so you do not run the risk of rolling to an embarrassing halt miles from a refuelling station.

To fill up, you ground the car with a cable that attaches to a dedicated electricity outlet next to the fuel tank (static and hydrogen being a combustible combination) then attach the hydrogen hose. Refuelling takes three to four minutes, a touch longer than usual refilling.