It was interesting to see how much of a splash hydrogen made at this week's Los Angeles Motor Show. 

This really seemed like the event where the technology entered the mainstream, with Audi and VW both announcing projects and Toyota revealing the production version and name of its hydrogen fuel cell vehicle, the Mirai.

I drove a test mule of this car a few weeks ago in Belgium and found it deeply impressive. It's not going to appeal to driving enthusiasts, but the Mirai does feel a step beyond plug-in hybrids and Toyota's own Toyota Prius.

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It's odd, in fact; because the cabin environment isn't a million miles away from the Prius, you half-expect a petrol motor to kick in as you accelerate. Except that never happens; there's a faint gurgle from somewhere in the system as the fuel cell 'stack' reacts to you prodding the throttle, and then there's just the usual surge of acceleration that you get from an electric vehicle. 

Except (again) the Mirai doesn't suffer from traditional EV range problems; if you need to refuel it you simply pull into a suitably-equipped filling station and fill it up. It should take three minutes, Toyota says - or about the same as a conventionally powered vehicle.

It seems to me, therefore, that this is yet another example of the car industry being just that bit more clever than the legislators. Because while the Mirai proves that a hydrogen FCV can work, the infrastructure does not exist to support it. 

London might have 15 stations next year, if it's lucky, but even though the car could quite happily go from one end of the country to the other, it's unlikely to be able to until the end of the decade at the earliest.

Does this, in turn, mean that hydrogen-fuelled cars like the Mirai are actually no better than electric vehicles? Right now, that's probably true - and just a little unfair.