Automotive reformers

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These seemed potentially revolutionary to me, when I first heard them announced (circa 2000 I believe)

 

Rather than burning fuels like gasoline or ethanol, they could be converted to a chemical that can be run through a fuel cell which generates electricity. So it'd be like a hybrid, only much more efficient (thanks to a fuel cell rather than a gas-burning "heat engine") and also emit minimal CO₂ in comparison, with water vapor as its only waste product. And while water vapor is also a greenhouse gas, it has this tendency to precipitate, as opposed to CO₂... we don't see it doing that very much.

 

Anyway, I was wondering if anyone knew about the state of this idea. The most recent design I've seen dates June 2006. It's from Renault, and can apparently run on gasoline, ethanol, or diesel:

 

http://www.greencarcongress.com/2006/06/renault_to_show.html

 

I tend to get the feeling that hybrids are "false pretenders" and this technology will be the true successor to the century-old internal combustion engine.