Aug. 16--Hydrogen-powered cars are off the drawing board and ready for the highways. But chances are you won't see one anytime soon.

Yesterday a traveling caravan of hydrogen-powered cars stopped at Gateway Hyundai of Richmond in Chester on the fourth day of the Hydrogen Road Tour 2008. The tour from Maine to California features 11 cars and highlights hydrogen as an alternative fuel.

About 100 people came out to see the rows of cars lined up across the dealership's lot. Mixed in among the invited guests, government officials and tour participants were curious onlookers and dealership employees. They mingled among the cars asking questions of the product specialists there to discuss the vehicles and technology.

According to U.S. Department of Energy, hydrogen is a clean energy source that in the long term will "simultaneously reduce dependence on foreign oil and emissions of greenhouse gases."

While the tour focused on the benefits of hydrogen power in cars, the U.S. is not ready for it, organizers, manufacturers and government officials in attendance said.

The problem is, even if the cars were available, there is almost nowhere for them to refuel. Virginia has one station, at Fort Belvoir in Northern Virginia. In the U.S., 61 stations can refuel hydrogen cars. Of the 61, almost half -- 26 -- are in California, said Roy O. Kim, spokesman for the tour's sponsor, the California Fuel Cell Partnership.

Because of the shortage, manufacturers who could mass produce the cars don't. Gas station owners won't start supplying hydrogen until there is a demand.

This is a case of putting the chicken before the egg, said Alleyn S. Harned, assistant secretary of commerce and trade in Virginia.

Harned said that to make hydrogen a viable alternative, state and federal governments need to work with private industry to build a better network of providers.

He acknowledged that government, whether it be federal or state, might need to provide incentives to help spur action.

California already is doing that.

Kwontae Cho, an engineering manager at the Hyundai-Kia America Technical Center Inc. in Chino, Calif., said yesterday that manufacturers are working closely with California to create an infrastructure that will make hydrogen-powered cars feasible.

Last year California gave nearly $3 million to build three hydrogen fuel stations in that state. The total bill is expected to be about $6 million. The stations, using solar and wind power, will be able to create electricity that, in turn, will generate the hydrogen.

Cho expects other states to follow and more stations to appear in larger U.S cities in the next five years.

For now, he said, the goal is to spread the word on technology. Contact Louis Llovio at (804) 649-6348 or LLLovio@timesdispatch.com.

-----

To see more of the Richmond Times-Dispatch, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.timesdispatch.com.

Copyright (c) 2008, Richmond Times-Dispatch, Va.

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.