Nobel laureate and former Energy Secretary gets driven in one of the world's first commercially available fuel cell electric cars to the 232nd ECS meeting for his keynote speech, particularly fitting because electrochemistry was at the heart of enabling this technology. Forty years ago, government, national labs and industry convened to brainstorm options for reducing dependence on foreign oil and the DOE fuel cell program was born. Since then, researchers made great strides, reducing platinum content and improving electrode performance, achieving dramatic cost reductions and durability improvements, eventually enabling industry to commercialize fuel cell technology.