The hydrogen fuel cell is the perfect instrument to power an electric car. The burning of hydrogen in a fuel cell is perfectly clean, producing nothing but water out of the tailpipe of the car. The problem is that almost all commercial hydrogen is produced in an energy-intensive process called “steam reforming”, using methane gas from fossil sources. Methane is a potent greenhouse gas. The sustainable way to produce hydrogen is through electrolysis of water. But that process requires expensive electrodes. That’s why Tesla- founder Elon Musk pushes the battery as power source for electric cars and even homes while calling the hydrogen fuel cell a “dead-end” technology. But new research out of Stanford has produced electrodes that have a considerably longer life and are cheaper to produce. This can be a game-changer for the fuel cell.