Appliances like television sets can also be powered by portable fuel cells. This is a 100-Watt portable Ballard® fuel cell demonstration unit powering a television and VCR combo

Honda Motor Company's hydrogen-fueled FCX fuel cell vehicle is now in the hands of customers. The FCX, powered by Ballard's latest generation Mark 902 fuel cell, seats four, has a range of 170 miles (270km) and can reach speeds of 93 mph (150km/h). Having made its commercial debut in December 2002, Honda is leasing five FCX vehicles to the City of Los Angeles and will market others by lease arrangement to customers in the Tokyo Metropolitan Area. Over the next two to three years, Honda plans to lease about 30 FCX cars in Japan and California.

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The hydrogen fuel cell operates similar to a battery. It has two electrodes, an anode and a cathode, separated by a membrane. Oxygen passes over one electrode and hydrogen over the other. The hydrogen reacts to a catalyst on the electrode anode that converts the hydrogen gas into negatively charged electrons (e-) and positively charged ions (H+).

Think of them as big batteries, but ones that only operate when fuel—in this case, pure hydrogen—is supplied to them.

Hydrogen is a highly flammable chemical element which occurs in great abundance throughout the universe. In fact, hydrogen makes up approximately 75% of the universe, by volume, and it appears in a very large number of compounds, especially those which make up various organic materials.