We had a fascinating meeting yesterday here at the PC Magazine office, with Taras Wankewycz of Horizon Fuel Cells. The company showed us its first product, the H-Racer: a toy car about 6.5 inches long that runs on hydrogen. Even better, you get to produce the fuel yourself, and the mini fueling station is powered by a fuel-cell battery, which in turn derives power from a solar panel; so much alternative fuel technology in one little package. (I know, I just used variations of the word "fuel" way too many times in one sentence.)

The H-Racer runs for around 3 minutes before it needs refueling. It will come in a kit (bundled with the refueling station and the solar panel), and is easily put together; parents and kids can do it together for a mutual learning experience. You can buy the H-Racer and fuel station now at Horizon's site, for a combined $80, and the bundle should be available in some stores and at sites like ThinkGeek in August.

Wankewycz told us that this is the first fuel-cell product that will be widely available to the mainstream commercial market. The company will be developing more hydrogen-powered toys, either on its own or together with actual toy manufacturers, many of whom have shown a strong interest already in the H-Racer. "Next year we'll have a bigger product," he said. Eventually, he hopes to design an actual, driveable hydrogen-powered car; but he decided to start small.

Take a look at our writeup on the H-Racer at TechnoRide, where we also posted a slideshow showing all the car's components.