Honda Motor Corporation will be offering a car with a fuel cell in 2008. The vehicle will be like the FCX concept (pictured) and will be released in limited production.
Honda invited 20 auto journalists to test drive the next generation FCX Concept at the Mazda Raceway in Laguna Seca near Monterey last week. And to say the least, they were wowed. The car actually looks like a sneaker and confirms the mundane appearance of alternative fuel cars. The car shows a cab forward design which has been used a lot by Chrysler in recent years.
Inside the vehicle is a multi-level dashboard and instrument panel that shows a ball turning from green to blue to yellow and growing larger and smaller as the hydrogen is being used.
The fuel cell is stacked with hydrogen and oxygen combine being used to create electricity to power the vehicle. With the use of this fuel cell rather than the fuel cell in the previous version, the car is 40 percent lighter and 43 percent smaller. Moreover, the newer version has a range of 270 miles while the previous FCX had a 210-mile range.
Other automakers such as BMW and General Motors are also developing fuel cell vehicles. Chevrolet, for example, will begin trails of Chevy Equinox sports utility vehicles equipped with a fuel cell in 2007.
Fuel cell vehicles will have to overcome serious infrastructure problems to supply hydrogen to vehicles. However, Honda said that it has begun research on the possibility of some type of home fill up system similar to what it offers owners of its natural gas powered Civic and expect more public hydrogen-fueling facilities will open over time.