Honda is bringing a hydrogen fuel cell-powered sedan to market, and it’s not some exotic-looking techmobile, but rather a stylish sedan that just happens to not run on a single drip of fossil fuel. It’s called the Honda FCX Clarity, and it just may be a game-changer in the automotive industry. On top of its fuel-cell power plant, Honda also is develop a solar-powered hydrogen generator for the Clarity so that filling up the tank will itself be powered by clean, renewable energy.
You can’t just buy one at the local Honda dealer, though.
As Honda explains, initially only a limited number of hese groundbreaking vehicles will be leased to Southern Californians starting during the summer of 2008.
The reason for this limited initial release is that in order to drive a fuel cell vehicle, you have to be able to refuel it. And since these clean cars do not run on gasoline, you can’t just stop off at your regular corner gas station to fill up. Hydrogen fuel stations are critical to the deployment of a fuel cell car and, as it stands now, stations accessible to the public are still quite limited.
Therefore, only customers currently residing in the Torrance, Santa Monica and Irvine areas who meet additional qualification criteria will be eligible to take an FCX Clarity home. Honda wants to ensure that FCX Clarity drivers will be able to take their vehicles in for service at participating dealers and have convenient access to refueling stations. Sales will be handled through American Honda Motor Co., Inc. in conjunction with local dealers. Collision insurance and maintenance will all be covered by the three-year $600/month lease.
Hey honey, wanna move to Santa Monica? Oh, wait. Maybe we don’t have to if we just have a little patience. Says Honda:
If you live outside the area, don’t worry. We plan to roll out more of these amazing vehicles as more hydrogen refueling options become available. A key component of this effort is the development of Honda’s Home Energy Stations. At Honda we believe that hydrogen fuel cells have the power to change our society’s energy and mobility needs, and we are thrilled to have met this milestone with the introduction of the all-new FCX Clarity.
I can drive the old clunker awhile longer, I guess. I’d hate to be in the early stages of a locked-in 5-year payment plan on a new gasoline-fueled car when the Clarity becomes available in my little corner of America
The web page for the Honda Home Energy Station doesn’t mention it being powered by solar, but an emailed newsletter from Honda regarding the Clarity says Honda “went beyond the challenge of creating a zero-emissions hydrogen fuel-cell vehicle to accomplish an efficient refueling option based on renewable solar energy.” In fact, what Honda calls “next-generation thin film solar cells” are already mounted on an experimental Hydrogen Refueling Station (HRS) in Torrance, California. Honda says the experimental station is showing “increased efficiency in producing hydrogen using renewable solar energy,” and enthuses that achieving solar-powered hydrogen production to refuel the Clarity “lays the groundwork for a whole new way for society to think about energy in the future. ”
Hard to argue with that.
I’m looking forward to putting a Clarity in my garage in the not-to-distant future.
