Honda FCX Clarity fuel-cell car shown off

Honda has announced that it will be showing off what it claims is the world's first production fuel-cell car, the FCX Clarity, at the EcoVelocity show next month.



The FCX Clarity is designed to use hydrogen fuel cells as its power source, offering far greater performance than a traditional all-electric vehicle while maintaining the same zero harmful emission baseline.



While fuel-cell cars are nothing new, they've never made it to a production model before - and Honda claims that's exactly what it will be showing off at the EcoVelocity event, held between the 8th and the 11th of September at the Battersea Power Station.



The company is keeping full details of the Clarity's specifications under wraps until the show starts, but has explained that the vehicle offers an impressive 270-mile range per fill, is capable of topping up its hydrogen reserves as easily as a petrol or diesel car can refuel, and has water vapour as its only emission.



It's also keen to point out that the Clarity isn't an experiment, or a concept car, but a fully-certified road-legal vehicle built at the same factory as Honda's other models..



The company will also be showing off a redesigned five-door Insight, the CR-Z sporty hybrid, and a hybrid edition of the popular Jazz that extends its fuel economy to an impressive 64.2mpg - a 23 per cent improvement over the standard Jazz edition.



Author: Gareth Halfacree



Source;

http://www.expertreviews.co.uk/car-tech/1286842/honda-fcx-clarity-fuel-cell-car-shown-off

Honda UK: Honda joins Clean Energy Partnership with 2 FCX Clarity vehicles

Honda and the Clean Energy Partnership (CEP) have announced today that Honda will become the newest member of the CEP programme, providing further impetus to the hydrogen movement in Europe.

CEP is Europe's leading fuel cell vehicle and hydrogen infrastructure demonstration project, bringing together expertise from vehicle manufacturers, infrastructure and energy companies, and the German Government. CEP is designed to prepare the ground for market entry of hydrogen mobility in Europe.

Honda has been running fuel cell electric vehicles on European roads since 2009 and will support CEP activities with 2 FCX Clarity fuel cell electric vehicles.

Ken Keir, Executive Vice President of Honda Motor Europe said, "Honda firmly believes that hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles are the ultimate solution in reducing CO2 emissions from road transportation. Participation within CEP with the ground breaking FCX Clarity will demonstrate the viability of fuel cell technology and will also support the essential development of a European hydrogen refuelling infrastructure."

Honda joins the Partnership at the same time as the industrial gas supply company, Air Liquide, demonstrating CEP's value in bringing together vehicle manufacturers and energy companies to support the development of hydrogen based mobility in Europe.

Dr. Klaus Bonhoff, Chairman & Managing Director of NOW GmbH1, remarked: "The CEP is the NIP's2 nucleus for preparing the market for future proof mobility based on hydrogen and fuel cells. The partnership's continuous growth clearly demonstrates the industry's commitment to making zero-emissions mobility possible. We have to cooperate internationally to achieve this, which makes the addition of Air Liquide and Honda to the CEP all the more important. "

Ends


Editors Notes

1 NOW GmbH: National Organisation for Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technology whose mission is to coordinate and manage market preparation programmes for products and applications based on hydrogen, fuel cell and battery electric powertrain technology. NOW is a German state organisation. It is wholly owned by the federal government, represented by the Federal Ministry of Transport, Building and Urban Development (BMVBS).
2 NIP: The German National Innovation Programme for Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technology, run by Federal Ministry of Transportation

Source;
http://www.hondanews.eu/en/news/index.pmode/modul,detail,0,1828-DEFAULT,21,text,1/index.pmode

Future Tech Watch: Automakers Try To Sell Government On Fuel Cell Cars

Honda's fuel cell electric car, the FCX Clarity, can go about 240 miles on a tank of hydrogen fuel. Compared with gasoline, that's about 60 miles to the gallon. The only emission is water so pure you could drink it.

The company has been building a limited number of these cars since 2005, so Honda was surprised when Secretary of Energy Steven Chu claimed it would take four technological miracles to make fuel cell cars viable in the marketplace.

"Simply put, he's wrong on those points. He has bad advice," Honda's Steve Ellis said at southeast Michigan's sole hydrogen fueling station. "Automakers are not foolish. We're not going to invest in technology that we see as a dead end."

The Clarity costs $600 a month to lease, but if you add in all of Honda's research and development costs, each one is probably worth tens of millions of dollars. Ellis says the costs are coming down, though — from the hydrogen fuel, which is made from natural gas, to the cost of the fuel cells. Producing them in volume will really bring the costs down, he says.

"Ten years ago, if we were looking under this hood, it would be like duct tape and baling wires," he says. "So it was all an engineering exercise. This car, we're handing the keys to customers, saying, 'Here's your car, see you in six months. Nothing to see here folks.' "

But the keys are being given only to people in southern California, where there's a cluster of hydrogen fueling stations, built with the help of state subsidies. Even if Chu changes his mind about the miracles, the price tag remains a problem.

Oliver Hazimeh of the management consulting firm PRTM says battery electric cars like the Volt and the Leaf are getting cheaper faster, which is why batteries are getting the nod from the government.

"By 2015, even five years from now, you will probably get a Nissan Leaf-type vehicle on the battery side for probably $25,000," he says. "That same vehicle in the fuel cell configuration will probably still be $45,000 to $50,000."

But fuel cell proponents say that's not a fair competition. The government spent more on battery electrics in just the past two years than it did on fuel cells over the past decade. James Warner, director of policy at the Fuel Cell and Hydrogen Energy Association, says cutting funding sends the wrong message to car companies developing fuel cell cars like Honda, GM, Toyota, Daimler and Hyundai.

"By all accounts, they are ready to commercialize these vehicles by 2015," he says.

Warner has a bigger worry than less federal funding. Under a continuing budget resolution, Chu has no mandate to spend anything at all on fuel cell technology.

"The secretary if he so chose could end these programs today," he says.

A statement from Chu suggests he is likely to stick with President Obama's proposed budget, which cuts research and development by about half, but eliminates funding for the commercialization of fuel cell cars. That means it could take even longer for people who don't live in southern California to get a hydrogen fuel cell car to drive.

Source;
http://www.npr.org/2011/04/19/135518929/automakers-try-to-sell-government-on-fuel-cell-cars

Honda's 'road to zero emissions'

Honda is very much looking to the future - and a clean one too. It will use the Geneva show to strut its environmental credentials

"Road to Zero Emissions" is the theme of Honda's stand at Geneva, where it will showcase its EV Concept electric vehicle and a platform for mid-sized plug-in hybrids.

The concepts - first unveiled at the LA Auto Show in November 2010 - aim to illustrate the current technology of hybrids, alongside the "near-future" technology of plug-in vehicles and the ultimate goal of Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles, such as the company's FCX Clarity.

Both the EV Concept and the plug-in hybrid platform are integral to the "Honda Electric Mobility Network", the company's approach to reducing CO2 emissions through innovative products, energy-management and energy-production technology.

Honda says its EV Concept hints strongly at the direction and styling for its forthcoming production battery electric vehicle, the Fit EV, which will be introduced in the US and Japan in 2012. The EV Concept is designed to meet the daily driving needs of town and city dwellers and has the same five-passenger layout as the Jazz. It will achieve an estimated 100-mile driving range per charge.

The plug-in hybrid platform showcases Honda's next-generation, two-motor hybrid technology set to debut in 2012. Integrated into a mid-size saloon, the plug-in hybrid is aimed at motorists who make short, frequent trips in all-electric mode, but also need long-distance capability.

Source;
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/motor-shows/geneva-motor-show/8328219/Hondas-road-to-zero-emissions.html