Hydrogen Road Tour ’08 completes cross-country trip

For the past two weeks hydrogen fuel cell cars have been lighting up the nation’s highways on a cross-country trip designed to showcase the emerging technology. This last weekend, they rolled into the Los Angeles Coliseum completing their trip that started in Portland, Maine.

Not only was the demonstration designed to be a positive reinforcement about the road-worthiness of the cars, but also to highlight the need for more fueling stations that can handle the cars. For long stretches the cars had to be hauled on flatbed trucks before they could refuel. There are about 60 refueling stations nationwide.

The tour stopped in 31 cities in 18 states. Catherine Dunwoody, executive director of the California Fuel Cell Partnership, said:

There’s a lot of curiosity about these vehicles. As we got to Allentown, Pennsylvania, people lined up and cheered.

Nine carmakers participated in the tour: Honda, GM, Toyota Motor Corp, Ford Motor Co, BMW AG, Daimler AG, Hyundai Motor Co, Nissan Motor Co, and Volkswagen AG.