Earlier this month, The Chronicle ran an interesting interview with General Motors CEO Rick Wagoner, in which he said major car manufacturers need to develop a variety of alternative energy technologies in preparation for the day that world gets off the oil.

The theory goes: Betting on just one -- electric cars or fuel cells -- would be too risky.


That's not the party line over at BMW. The German car manufacturer told TED attendees in Monterey Thursday that they are betting the whole hog on hydrogen.

"Water is the coal of the future," a big sign in the middle of the room read. It was a reference to the process of extracting the H from H2O, and then using it to power the same internal combustion engines we use today.

Turns out BMW started its hydrogen program back in 1978, and as such, they have a ton of research on the topic. Lots of interesting factoids. For example, BMW believes:

--The world will hit peak oil in 2025, marking the day the world reaches its peak petroleum production, declining thereafter until we run out.