May 2 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - The Sun News, Myrtle Beach, S.C.

When Fred Humes, director of the Economic Development Partnership of Aiken and Edgefield counties, called an insurance company to get a policy for the state's first hydrogen-powered vehicle, the agent on the line did not know what to say.

Such are the problems that the new technology faces as boosters try to promote use of the environmentally clean alternative to gas-powered vehicles.

Humes showed off the vehicle -- a modified 2007 Chevrolet Silverado -- at a state economic development conference Thursday in Myrtle Beach.

"Tomorrow is actually today," Humes said. "This is for real."

A moderately priced, hydrogen-powered vehicle could be available to consumers within three to four years, Humes said. But the problem is the infrastructure: places to fuel up, mechanics to maintain or modify the vehicles and rules and regulations regarding them, for example.

The Center for Hydrogen Research, an Aiken group funded by public and private sources, bought the Silverado two months ago for $120,000, and Humes is taking it around the state to show people the possibilities.

The Silverado looks just like a gas-powered vehicle, only with three huge hydrogen tanks in the pickup's bed.

The truck gets slightly better mileage on hydrogen than gas -- the equivalent of 20 miles per gallon instead of 17 miles per gallon, Humes said. It costs more to fill up the truck: the equivalent of $5.50 a gallon. But the truck releases virtually no greenhouse gases, and the technology would reduce America's dependence on foreign oil, Humes said.

"Wonderful," said Harry Bugbee, manager of economic development of Scana Corp., as he admired the truck. "We've got to find an alternative. ... We have to do it differently. We have to think differently."

Lisa Fleisher, lfleisher@thesunnews.com