I agree, but on the other hand, it sure seems like low-hanging fruit. If this could be applied to nearly all existing combustion engines simply by changing out a sparkplug, then it might not require all of us to go out and buy a new car just to meet emissions guidlines or achieve much better mileage.
Whether the car companies like the idea is a whole other question.
Yea, I'm all for low hanging fruit, but I would've thought fuel cells using diesel (which exist now) could've been made cheaply and using existing infrastructure.
Yeah, I have always been very excited about fuel cells -- in fact I still think they could fundamentally change our notion of how energy is harvested and transferred.
As for the original article, I think I must be stuck in my midwestern mindset. Living near Kansas City (which I consider something of an homage to suburban sprawl) I have a hard time believing that people will adopt new notions of energy conversion and distribution (like fuel cells) as opposed to throwing a couple new-fangled spark plugs in their SUVs.
Whether the car companies like the idea is a whole other question.