If the necessary infrastructure can be provided, a practical future electric vehicle will be an efficient hydrogen-powered hybrid operating on a polymer fuel cell. Light weight, lowest cost and high efficiency imply an atmospheric pressure, rather than a pressurized, system. Polymer fuel cells require humidification for ionic conductivity, which means that product water is normally rejected as liquid. Atmospheric pressure systems of this type are difficult to operate. A self-humidified atmospheric pressure system operating at higher temperature (about 75-80 °C) on oxygen-enriched air rejecting product water in the vapour phase is described. It combines the advantages of unpressurized operation with the higher power density of a pressurized system, but with much lower parasitic power requirements.