For companies pre-occupied with performance, fuel cells are a considerably less welcome development. They might be able to wring excitement from the stacks instead of the pistons, but they'll have lost the advantage they currently enjoy and might not be able to get it back.
As one of the leading purveyors of performance, BMW has come up with a solution that might suit them perfectly -- internal combustion engines powered by hydrogen.
This must seem like an extremely elegant solution for the Munich firm, since they can keep those engines they're famous for while piggybacking on the hydrogen infrastructure the rest of the world will have to build for its more ho-hum fuel cell vehicles.
Which is why a fleet of 750hL cars recently left Germany on CleanEnergy WorldTour 2001, a six-month voyage during which BMW will make clear its vision of the alternative fuel future and how it blends nicely with the company's past.
It's early days yet and the roads we traveled weren't that challenging, but the 750hL models I've been in did ride and respond like its gas-inhaling siblings. So there was no need to apply a coating of the altruism that comes from doing something good for the environment to make up for leisurely acceleration.
According to BMW, the 5.4-litre V-12 goes 0-100 km/h in 9.6 seconds on its way to a maximum speed of 226 kmh. Of course at that launch rate and steady speed the car's maximum range of 350 km would plummet, so that's where you might have to apply a coating of civic-minded conscientiousness to make up for it.