The cars themselves emit nothing on the road. This can help local air quality, especially in city centers, as these things will be dispersed around the 'burbs. The appliance itself is probably very clean-burning, and can be run at night, so it's not adding anything to the atmosphere when peak pollutant concentrations are reached during rush hour.

One way in which some of the cost savings may be artificial, though, is the fact that the pump price of gasoline contains a fair amount of tax aimed at funding roads. If enough people use fuels on which road tax has not been paid, government revenues will suffer, and the state will eventually have to extract the money at some other point -- raising general taxes, imposing higher sales taxes on cars or yearly registration fees, highway tolls, city-center congestion charges, something.

One option that would most closely mimic our current policy would be to have a meter record how much hydrogen is dispensed each month (or quarter -- whatever) from this appliance into a vehicle. One would then pay a per-kg charge to the government for using hydrogen as a road fuel, and this would be on top of the cost one pays for the natural gas that is fed into this machine. We already use house-side meters for electricity, water and natural gas utilities, so this sort of thing should clearly be workable if we wanted it.

But if the price of natural gas will rise as much as the gasoline price will rise after peak oil, what´s the point.

Taxation is not a major problem, may it be gasolene, diesel, NG, electricity, property etc. However, the perception of being overtaxed or unfairly taxed has to be addressed.

OTOH affordable NG availability may soon be a major problem. Peak (USA) NG happened many years ago. It will be difficult to tax what is no longer available.

A carbon tax may be more acceptable and appropriate in the future. It could replace many of the existing taxes. $100/tonne may be a good starting point. It would be a smart way to favour/promote the production of cleaner energies and the use of cleaner vehicles.

I like the idea of having a 'home-source' fueling option as it is likely to lessen the transition to a widespread infrastructrue, at least somewhat.
Though, along with the other idealists, I am disappointed that natural gas is the main energy conveyance - being a carbon-based energy form.
I suppose that in a big-picture view, we have the source, distributor, and end-user. I would argue that getting widepsread acceptance at the end-user stage of a zero-emission solution is far more difficult that at any other stage - and therefore widespread acceptance of this is probably a huge step towards sustainable emissions and fuel-source security.
Perhaps this fuelling solution could be part of a household redundancy system when added to an electrolysed water-hydrogen source - powered of course by electricity from a renewable, carbon-neutral source and distribution system (however picky we want to be on those definitions).
With all other technical considerations overcome, on a basic economic footing only - perhaps this system could be widespread in the 2012 to 2015 timeframe?

Exactly right Alain,

Bio-gas powered fuel cell generated hydrogen would be closer to optimum. The potential at a condominium like community where start-up costs can be spread out and economies of scale realized would be an excellent place to start. As more waste & sewage is locally treated and converted to useful products the savings in infrastructure for piping and treatment, plus the potential for less combined sewer overflow pollution would be fantastic.

There would probably need to be increased registration fees. I would hope that these would be tied to annual miles driven -- that would hopefully encourage more bike, pedestrian, and mass transit travel.

There have recently been several high-profile projects that demonstrate the progress being made by the hydrogen community. At the National Hydrogen Association, we’re able to see first-hand the strides being made by a diverse group of organizations to make the hydrogen economy a reality.

Honda, for one, has several incredibly promising developments in the works for using fuel cell technologies. Honda’s progress developing it’s fuel cell car and home fueling center provides tangible ways that consumers can benefit directly from hydrogen technologies. The fact that the Home Energy Station provides a two-in-one solution providing both a fueling and a home energy solution gives additional opportunities for home owners to reduce their carbon footprint.

That’s especially important, considering that Plug Power and Ballard Power Systems recently released a report proving that fuel cell applications can reduce green house gases with today’s hydrogen technologies and production systems. As new systems are developed and production from renewable resources evolves, we can anticipate these environmental findings will improve.

In addition to the developments made with the Home Energy Station, Honda announced it will begin leasing the FCX Clarity in Summer 2008. Honda executives allowed the editor for Jalopnik to test drive. The FCX Clarity has the capacity to go 270 miles without refueling and emits only water.

Collectively, the automotive industry is making steady progress developing fuel cell vehicles to resolve our energy needs and reduce carbon emissions to improve our environmental outlook. General Motors and BMW have also made progress in developing hydrogen vehicles and each of their models will soon be in the hands of the public.