The city of Carmel, Ind., has trucks for plowing snow, salting streets, and carrying landscaping equipment. But a person cherry-crimson pickup can do a thing no other auto can: make its very own hydrogen.

A forty five-kilogram steel box sits in the mattress of the operate truck. When a driver starts the engine, the unit automatically commences concocting the colorless, odorless gasoline, which feeds into the engine’s consumption manifold. This helps prevent the truck from guzzling gasoline until the hydrogen offer operates out. The pickup has no gasoline-mobile module, a conventional part in most hydrogen vehicles. No high-tension storage tanks or refueling pumps are required, both.