Dreams of Fuel Cells

I live about an hour from the auto-motive capital of the U.S. (well, the former one at least). The big 3 and the UAW are pretty much house-hold names in Michigan. Most people who know me would testify that I'm not a fan of the U.S. auto industry. From union squabbling to companies who produce non-creative, sub quality products and insist that the reason you should buy them is not because they are better, but because its your patriotic duty.

Even though I rarely achieve this, I always strive to be a creative, forward thinking engineer. I believe that sometimes its not always enough to just solve a problem, but solve it in a fantastic way that yourself and others can learn from. I simply don't see this a lot from the big 3, which is why I drive a Honda.

Tonight I saw a commercial for the new Honda hydrogen fuel-cell car, and I was captured. I felt like I was looking at the iPhone of cars. A company whose industry is as old as some governments refuses to subside into the monotonous productions of U.S. big business and big labor competitors.

I need to do more reading to fully understand what this car is, but it looks like it will hit the road in the summer of 2008. While other companies are just trying to stay a float and squabbling about overtime pay for employee uniform changes, Honda is making history.

http://www.honda.com/fuel-cell/