Although hybrid automobiles are getting a lot of ink these days and seem to be a step in the right environmental direction, they aren’t perfect. Powered by both internal combustion and electricity, they still produce emissions and consume fossil fuel, albeit in smaller amounts than most conventional automobiles.

However, if you want a car that is 100 percent clean-running, with no noxious exhaust fumes whatsoever, you’re pretty much SOL—at least if you want to buy it from an established manufacturer. For example, General Motors’ new Volt is getting all kinds of media attention these days, and yes, it is cleaner than just about anything else the company is building. But unlike the late and lamented EV1, which was a true electric vehicle, it still comes with a small auxiliary internal-combustion engine for accessories, or it will when it hits the market sometime in the next year or two. And unless you’re on GM’s VIP list and are considered to be an “opinion builder”, you won’t be able to purchase one anyway.

That said, the General is now producing second-generation, fuel-cell-powered Chevrolet Equinoxes out of its Oshawa facility. With zero emissions, this version of the popular SUV is propelled by a hydrogen-fed fuel cell. It, in turn, produces electricity, which drives the front wheels via an electric motor. Unlike some other fuel-cell vehicles, the Equinox does not use gasoline or any other fossil fuel and is truly nonpolluting. It has all the usual mod cons and features one would expect to find in an SUV, such as power windows, antilocking brakes, air conditioning, and so on, and the hydrogen it consumes is a byproduct of the production of sodium chlorate, or bleach.

“Hydrogen is twice as efficient as fossil fuel,” says Dick Kauling, a General Motors senior engineering manager, “and it’s not as expensive to produce as you might think.” GM is partnering with Shell, British Petroleum, and Air Liquide in the Fuel Cell Equinox program and will probably produce a total of 100 vehicles this year. However, as with the Volt and EV1, only selected people will be able to drive one. “We will probably choose them for their knowledgeability and influence factor,” Kauling adds. (The Web site for the Fuel Cell Equinox is at www.greenbydesign.ca/.)

Hydrogen can also be collected during the generation of electricity, and it is one of the most abundant resources on the planet. German manufacturer BMW has a hydrogen-powered vehicle in the form of the Hydrogen 7, a variant of the company’s top-of-the-line 7-series luxury sedan. But it actually gets its motivation from an internal-combustion V12 engine that burns hydrogen gas. And like General Motors, BMW has been doling out its Hydrogen 7 to selected high-profile types. (More info at www.bmw.com/. )

Honda hasn’t been idle on the clean-air front either. In 2005, it produced its FCX fuel-cell vehicle and leased one for two years to a selected family in Redondo Beach, California. Powered by an electric motor fed by a hydrogen-fuel-cell stack, it was to be a key part of the then-emerging “Hydrogen Highway” touted by Gordon Campbell and California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. It has since been replaced by a second-generation model, unveiled at the Detroit Auto Show in 2007. The new FCX is housed in a Honda Civic body and is virtually indistinguishable from its fossil-fuel counterpart. (For more info, go to world.honda.com/.)

Closer to home, there is actually a company building road-legal fully electric cars out of a facility in North Delta. Dynasty Electric Car Corporation produces a kitten-cute, 100-percent-battery-powered commuter car called the IT. About the same size as a Toyota Yaris, with a 40-kilometres-per-hour top speed, the IT is strictly for city use and is forbidden by law to go on the freeway. It will travel about 50 kilometres between charges and has half a dozen 12-volt lead-acid batteries feeding a 72-volt electric motor. Longer-range lithium-ion batteries are also available at additional cost. The IT starts at about $16,000 and is available as a four-door sedan, pickup truck, or van. But you’d better step lively if this is your cup of voltage: Dynasty recently announced that it has been purchased by a Pakistani businessman and will be shipping its assembly line, tooling, and just about everything else to the subcontinent. No word yet on whether the new owner will export the IT back to Canada. (For more info, visit www.itiselectric.com/.)

The vision of nonpolluting, clean-running automobiles is a tantalizing one, but there are still problems to overcome—battery technology, supply infrastructure, technical issues, legal questions, and on and on. Everybody seems to have a pet theory, but the reality is that it’s still an enormously complicated issue. “Read the science,” GM’s Kauling cautions. “Don’t get caught up in the myths.