NEW YORK (Fortune Small Business) - The stubby Honda two-door cut through Manhattan traffic like a skateboard. It accelerated smoothly, braked quietly, and-best of all-consumed no gasoline and generated no greenhouse gases. Sticker price: upwards of $1 million.

The car I was driving was the Honda FCX, and it may be the automobile of the future-one especially attractive to business owners hit by rising fuel prices. The FCX is powered by a fuel cell that converts hydrogen gas into electricity. (Fossil fuels are used on a smaller scale to refine and transport the hydrogen.) Unlike clunky, earlier versions, this one drives like a regular production model.

Behind the wheel, the technology is almost transparent. All the controls-accelerator, brake, accessory switches-are identical to those in a typical car. The FCX makes hardly any noise and accelerates smoothly, with none of the gearshifting that you feel in a gas-powered car.

That's because, unlike gasoline engines, electric motors don't require different gears. They can work with "direct drive" which means, basically, just one gear. I felt a decent surge while starting off, though getting to 60 mph takes as long as 13 seconds. Top speed is 93 miles per hour.