As Honda prepares to lease a handful of fuel-cell cars to consumers, General Motors is offering its own hydrogen cars free.

GM is preparing a January rollout of Project Driveway, which will park more than 100 Equinox Fuel Cell crossover wagons with selected drivers in Westchester County, N.Y.; Orange County, Calif.; and Washington, D.C.

GM said the research project would give it the world's largest fleet of fuel-cell cars driven by consumers, who can apply for no-cost, three-month tests of the Equinox at http://www.chevrolet.com/fuelcell. For recipients of the Equinox, each valued at up to $1 million, GM will even cover the cost of hydrogen fuel and insurance.

Maria Recchia-O'Neill, science coordinator for the Port Chester Public Schools in New York, will be among the first consumers to receive a hydrogen Equinox. Like other recipients, Recchia-O'Neill won her spot through curiosity and enthusiasm: GM is seeking testers who are active in its online forums for fuel-cell vehicles. The company has selected seven people from about 18,000 who applied.

Recchia-O'Neill said she was eager to drive the Equinox to her schools for lessons on physics, chemistry and the environment. She said she feels honored to be among the first consumers in the world to park a hydrogen car at home.

''We feel like we're contributing to something important, to drive a car with no gasoline that contributes nothing to pollution and global warming,'' she said. ''I'll be thrilled to have people stop me and ask questions about it.''

Like other fuel-cell cars, the Equinox generates electricity from a reaction between hydrogen and oxygen, with no smog-forming emissions or greenhouse gases. The crossover wagon delivers the equivalent of about 43 mpg and can travel roughly 170 miles on a tank that holds 4 kg of pressurized hydrogen. Each kilo contains roughly the energy of 1 gallon of gas.

Initial Project Driveway recipients have been selected, but GM said it would choose among contenders for 2009 test drives. The company expected several hundred people to test the Equinox through 2010.

While Honda calls the new FCX a production car, fuel-cell vehicles don't really qualify, at least as most people understand the term: No consumer can simply place an order, and no current models are available at dealerships. People chosen to drive the Chevy or lease the FCX must return the vehicle when the term is up.

The demonstration cars allow the companies to pile up real-world miles, data and owner feedback. Among GM's selection criteria, testers must be willing to keep ownership logs and report on their experiences.

The vehicles also provide street-legal proof that fuel cells can be harnessed in an otherwise typical car. Seeing them running smoothly — and not bursting into flame like the Hindenburg — could ease consumer skepticism over hydrogen safety and reliability.