Jonathan Takiff: We've driven the future, & it doesn't use gas

THE GIZMO:

Hydrogen-powered and self-steering vehicles from General Motors.

It's car-show season - with the Philadelphia International Auto Show opening Saturday (through Feb. 10). But I've already seen and driven the coolest vehicles at a less likely event: the Consumer Electronics Show, held earlier this month in Las Vegas.

Automaker GM was highly visible there, jockeying for position as a future-minded, gizmo-loving, high-tech authority.

"If the automobile was being introduced today, it would be here at CES," declared GM CEO Rick Waggoner in a keynote address. Rephrase that as "radically revamped," and the breakthrough was happening right outside.

APPEARANCES ARE DECEIVING: Gazing at a Chevrolet Equinox in the parking lot of the Las Vegas Convention Center, only a couple of details suggested this was other than a stock CUV (crossover utility vehicle).

There was a special paint job, for starters, announcing this ride as a (drum roll, please) Fuel Cell Powered vehicle. Plus, there was the curious presence of two fuel-tank door flaps.

Once inside, I spotted an interesting display on the center console tracking the flow of electrical power through the vehicle.

Pop the hood and you find not an engine but a "stack" of fuel cells encased in plastic boxes. The cells don't burn fuel, as a combustion engine would. Instead, the cells create wheel-driving electricity from the chemical reaction that occurs when liquid hydrogen fuel (stored under high pressure in explosion-proof tanks) is mixed with oxygen from the air.

Hiding under the vehicle seats is a second power source, a nickel-metal hydride battery pack. It builds up regenerative power whenever the driver hits the brakes. That supplemental power also increases fuel efficiency and boosts acceleration when needed.

CRUISE CONTROL: Driving down the Las Vegas strip in an Equinox, I was impressed by how quiet, smooth and eco-friendly this vehicle is. The power source barely hums, and the only thing that comes out of the tail pipe is a little mist of water.

That's right: zero pollution!

The fuel-celled Equinox boasts one of those newfangled continuous gearing transmissions, so you never feel a shift. And thanks to that secondary power source, there's plenty of torque for fast takeoffs from a stop.

But to push this vehicle from zero to 60 mph does take a leisurely 12 seconds. Acceleration has been clamped down in the 40- to 60-mph range, I'm guessing, for maximum fuel efficiency (and bragging rights).

SO WHERE DO YOU GET TANKED UP? GM is starting a program to loan 100 fuel-cell-powered vehicles to test families in Los Angeles, New York and Washington, D.C. - the only places where there are any hydrogen refueling stations.

As the vehicle only goes 150 miles on a full tank, taking a long trip will be problematic for a while. Plus, filling up is more complicated than with a conventional car, requiring the services of a trained attendant - just like the old days.

The hydrogen goes through a tightly coupled connector into the fuel line. And remember how I told you there was a second fuel flap on this Equinox? When filling up, you insert a separate sensor nozzle into that second spout. It measures the pressure and temperature building up inside the twin fuel tanks to determine when they're filled.

GM does expect to have the refueling functions combined into a single nozzle "soon," said Larry Burns, vice president of R&D and strategic planning.

We hear that archrival Honda - which plans to start leasing a new, fuel-cell-powered sedan called the FCX Clarity to Southern Californians around mid-year - already has solved that issue.

The really good news about hydrogen fuel is that it's plentiful (extractable from water, natural gas and biomass) and cheap.

"Already, there's enough hydrogen being produced to power 250 million vehicles," said Burns.

And while liquid hydrogen is measured in liters, the cost/mileage equivalency is "like paying $1 or $1.50 for a gallon of gas."

Oh, and can you guess who the major producers of hydrogen fuel are?

"Ironically, it's the petroleum industry," said Burns. "They're now getting to the bottom of a lot of wells. The oil down there isn't as pure and potent. So they use hydrogen to remove the sulfur and sweeten the gas."

ANOTHER FUTURE FLASH: Also on the GM proving grounds at CES was a Chevrolet Tahoe truck that - amazingly - drives itself, using a combination of LIDAR (light detection and range sensing), radar, vision and mapping GPS systems to calculate road geometry, perceive traffic and avoid obstacles.

There was all manner of scary-looking gear cluttering up and spinning around on its roof, put there by the developing team (from Carnegie Mellon University, GM and other partner companies).

Nervous me had no intention of risking that ride.

But I did watch this special Tahoe (nicknamed "Boss") swing neatly around some cones. I was told it traveled a 60-mile urban stretch without getting into trouble.

GM hopes to have robotic driving technology installed more discreetly in vehicles within 10 years.

Waggoner fantasized out loud about riders responding to e-mail, watching TV and eating breakfast while being chauffeured to work.

"And just imagine its potential as a virtual valet," added Larry Burns. "When you get to your destination, you can get out of the car and instruct it to go find a parking spot." *

Send e-mail to takiffj@phillynews.com.