Alkaline fuel cells, until recently the only type of fuel cell reliable enough to be used in space, are being neglected for road traction in favour of the supposed advantages of proton exchange membrane (PEM) cells. In practice, the alkaline cell is very well developed, simple to operate with a built-in cooling system, has excellent reliability, and is inexpensive to manufacture, even in small quantities. The paper describes the development (the adoption of modern catalysts, system packaging) and operation of alkaline fuel cells when installed as on-board chargers within a range of rapidly re-fuelled but zero-emission electric vehicles with immediate potential.