Yep! People had the same idea for hydrogen fuel cells. Electricity would extract hydrogen from water and refuel your car at home. Or a reformer would extract hydrogen from the natural gas line and refuel your car at home. The trouble is, even though hydrogen fuel cells are more efficient converting fuel to electricity, the fuel itself has less energy content because the carbon has been stripped away leaving only hydrogen. Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) makes use of both carbon and hydrogen combustion - the fuel itself has more energy. And natural gas can be obtained from renewable sources, such as biomass. Like ethanol, any carbon emissions would be reabsorbed from the atmosphere by next years' crop.

The price tag for the Clever Car could probably be lower too if it were Flexible-Fuel equipped, allowing it to run on ethanol, gasoline, or any combination of the two, or even if it had a clean-diesel engine. In fact, because the car is so light-weight, any powerplant would be cheaper, even a hydrogen fuel cell, although I can't say if the latter would be affordable.