GM showed off its '09 models at Texas Motor Speedway Tuesday, along with a few concept cars, designed to run with little or no gas at all.

Zero emissions, unless you count pure water vapor - the GM Equinox, a hydrogen fuel cell prototype, purrs like a cat.

"It's totally quiet, there's no engine," said Mark Vann, a GM fuel cell expert.

It's the struggling car company's next best hope at a petroleum-free future.

The problem is there's no place to fuel up.

"Why would anybody put in an infrastructure if there aren't cars on the road and why would anyone build cars if there's no infrastructure? We're trying to go slow. The two have to come up simultaneously," said Vann.

GM has about 100 of these cars on the road, but only a handful of hydrogen fueling stations.

The company's working with Shell and the government to build more. But any real roll-out is probably decades away.

More immediate - the Chevy Volt - which can run 40 miles on a lithium battery, then re-charge itself with a small on-board generator.

"So you use this for your 40-mile or less commute, then come home at night, it charges back up, you get back in and you never use a drop of gas," said Cristi Landy, Volt product manager.

But even this won't be available for at least two more years.

And for those who care more about velocity, there's the new Chevy ZR-1, the fastest corvette on the road.

It goes from zero to 60 in three seconds, with carbon-ceramic brakes used on the space shuttle.

A lot more new GM cars offer immediate fuel economy, including a hybrid Silverado pickup and the new Cadillac Escalade, built exclusively in Arlington.

A few more ways to stretch your fuel dollar coming to a show-room near you.

E-mail jbrady@wfaa.com.