GM Fuel Cell by 2011?

GM is making a lot of noise lately about Fuel Cells, culminating in their announcement on Friday that they will have Fuel Cell powered cars in showrooms by 2011. If this ends up being true, and the obstacles surrounding cost and re-fueling infrastructure can be overcome, GM has the potential to leap frog their competition in a way that changes the auto-industry forever. If it fails (and it is starting to sound like they are betting the farm on this) it could mark the end of GM as the lead player in the auto industry.

While we have all heard GM making this kind of futuristic pronouncement before, the date has never seemed so close, and when you combine it with recent comments from the company about the importance of nuclear power as an emissions free energy source it starts to look like they might actually be serious about pulling this off.