Fill 'Er Up - But Make It Hydrogen

Actress Jamie Lee Curtis feels like she's really won a prize.

"I felt like I won an Oscar," says Curtis.

But it's not an Academy Award that's got her excited. It's the chance to rent the potential car of the future - one fueled entirely by hydrogen, not gasoline, reports CBS News correspondent Hattie Kauffman.

Honda's new hydrogen car rents for $600 a month. That may not sound exciting, but from 50,000 applicants for the new cars, Curtis will receive the first one off the assembly line this summer.

"Our family is going to pay for the privilege of having the chance to show, by action, a car that is an alternative to gasoline," she says.

Only 200 other customers will be able to rent this car that runs on clean-burning hydrogen instead of gasoline. The cost to build this car? - about $100,000.

Vasilios Manousiouthakis, a professor of chemical engineering at UCLA, has been driving a Mercedes hydrogen test car for two years.

"You're on the freeway, it can go with the other cars faster than them; you're looking for the police whenever needed," says Manousiouthakis.

But the real problem with these cars is keeping them filled up - there are very few fueling stations. Even here in Southern California with the greatest concentratrion of stations, there are still fewer than 20.

Experts say the car companies and hydrogen suppliers are playing a chicken and egg game.

"They're kind of saying, 'Here's what we can do, but we have to wait for the infrastructure to come out,'" says Jonathan Linkow, managing editor for automobiles at Consumer Reports. "And the infrastructure people are saying, 'We will not make the investment in hydrogen fuel stations until we see more products.'"

In the meantime, Manousiouthakis makes do. His car can only travel 80 miles on a tank of fuel, and the nearest hydrogen station is 10 miles from his home.

On this day, the fuel pump is broken. With the nearest hydrogen station another 10 miles away, Manousiouthakis knows his car won't make it.

"I need desperately fuel right now. I'm literally on fumes so I cannot get out," he says.

It takes two men and a consultant on the phone to solve the problem.

"It takes commitment," says Manousiouthakis.

Right now, hydrogen is free - subsidized by cities promoting alternative energy like Santa Monica. Hydrogen advocates estimate it would cost about the same as a gallon of gas, though hydrogen cars get twice the mileage.

Experts say it'll be a decade before hydrogen cars are widely available, if ever. For now, only a select group are in on the experiment and Curtis, for one, doesn't mind the speed bumps that may come along with it.

"Even if it is a little bit of a hassle," she says, "to me it is so worth it."