Here is a future technology that one day may power automobiles. Presently, Honda, GM, and BMW have hydrogen fuel cell autos in development. Today's post is on the Honda FCX Clarity, which is Honda's entry into the hydrogen fuel cell automobile race. Honda believes it could start mass producing vehicles based on the FCX concept by the year 2018.
The advantage to hydrogen powered vehicles is that they are non polluting, the only product to come out of the tailpipe is water vapor. Hydrogen would be manufactured locally, therefore concerns about the cost and availability price of imported oil are negated. Check out the cars.com video!
The vehicle is powered by a .57-litre, 100kW Honda hydrogen fuel cell stack. Electricity is stored in a 288V lithium ion battery. The electric motor has 134 horsepower and powers the front wheels of the vehicle. The Clarity goes from 0-60 mph in 9.2 seconds, which is two seconds slower than the average four cylinder mid size car. The estimated range is 240 miles with a full tank of 4.1 kg compressed hydrogen. The Clarity is also available in one color Star Garnet Metallic.
Currently consumers are not currently allowed to purchase the vehicle. The Clarity is only available for leasing in the Southern California area.....where the hydrogen refueling stations are located. The leases are only available to a select 200 people over the next three years at $600.00 USD per month for 3 years. Fuel and maintenance are included with the lease cost! Here is an Car and Driver interview
with Jim Salomon the third person to lease a Clarity.
with Jim Salomon the third person to lease a Clarity.
My take on this car is that Honda appears to be the most advanced of the manufacturers working on the technology. The Clarity launch is similar to the Saturn EVI launch back in the 1980's.
This could be the type of car that we are driving in twenty years. The most likely scenario is that a number of different technologies will be available in automobiles. Due to the major improvements in battery technology... the electric car may be the largest automobile technology in twenty years.
The problem with the hydrogen technology is that the hydrogen refueling infrastructure would have to be built to support those vehicles.
For additional information go to the Honda FCX Clarity website!
