Hydrogen Tour Stops in Chattanooga

Hydrogen-powered cars could be on the streets sooner than you think. Some major car companies are taking part in a nationwide tour that made a stop in Chattanooga today. One of the reasons is because the are area an environmentally friendly reputation and residents are open to change.

If it looks like a duck...and sound like a duck...it must be a duck right? This car may look like others on the road but it's much quieter...that's because it runs on hyrdrogen.

" I enjoyed it. They're very quiet. They rode nice. Of course we didn't get it out on the interstate but driving around on the roads they were very comfortable," said Sam Jones, from Ooltewah who test drove a hydrogen cars.

Chattanooga is one of 31 stops on the Department of Transportation Hydrogen Tour. The Scenic city could also be called one of the greenest cities and that's why administrators felt showcasing these cars to public here would be beneficial.

" There's lots of interest here in Chattanooga. So we try to visit the places where Americans are looking for change in the way that we manage energy in our country," said Cheryl McQueary, the Deputy Administrator for the Unites States Department of Transportation.

We went looking for some that could be made right here in Chattanooga. VW doesn't have a U.S. hydrogen car yet but they have one along with BMW and others in Europe. That Volkswagen gets 60 gallons per gallon.That car in the regular fuel emission version gets 24 miles to the gallon. But automakers say the U.S. is just not ready for the hydrogen cars.

Filling up with hydrogen looks just like filling up with gasoline but that's the reason you won't see these on the road in the US yet.

" We're driving from Maine all the way to Los Angeles where the hyrdrogen tour is showing that these cars can do regular driving. They can do long ranges. The only problem we're having right now is the infrastructure just doesn't exist. We can't put the cars on the market. We have no infrasturcture hydrogen stations to do that," said John Tillman, a research program manager for Volkswagen.

" I think that's something we don't have a choice to do. I think we're gonna start conserving. I don't think we can continue using the resources that we use now. So that might be a step in the right direction," said Jones.

Automakers say cars that use only hydrogen emit water as a bi-product. The United States Environmental Protection Agency says that water is clean enough to drink and would not harm the air. California is the only place hyrdogen cars are being driven in the US right now because they have some fuel stations.