Latest Honda FCX info

[Lee]

Honda is showing there new FCX concept car in the US this year (it made the rounds in Japan last year from what I can tell). They opened up a new web site with a nicely polished dog and pony show to promote it. However they do not ‘close the loop’ with information about there efforts to make PV cells (Honda has an H2 filling station in California that is solar powered) and there marketing intentions.


http://world.honda.com/fcx/

[Guillermo]

Rear seat head room looks compromised.

[sputnik]

Efficient hydrogen fuel production still seems challenging, even with some solar assist in production...the "embodied energy" problem.

Please excuse my dumbness, but is this new car a Hydrogen FC-Li Battery hybrid?

[Lee]

Yes, it’s a ‘hybrid’. After making a FC that could accommodate the maximum demand of the motor and making IC hybrids they figured out that you could reduce the size of the FC stack and use a battery to make up for the max demand spikes, same basic principle as the Insight.

[trunkout]

I want the Hydrogen maker that comes with it!

[Fred]

As have many of you, I've been keeping an ear cocked for news regarding the introduction of fuel cell vehicles.

As it stands now, it wouldn't surprise me that Honda will be the first one "out of the gate" with such a car but it's the short range - only two hundred or so miles if I'm not mistaken - of these initial offerings which tells me which like the Insight, these vehicles will not come close to being the economic success in the market place which will lead to the continued production of these cars.

However, based on my experience with "The Silver Bullet", and the first Honda I've ever owned, I for one wish Hona well and hope I'm wrong.

Fred / Proud Owner of "The Silver Bullet"

[b1shmu63]

FCX is wonderful to look at and would probably make a good marriage in the hands of an appropriate suitor. However, regardless of what the "average man" thinks he wants, he's likely to be happier with something more practical. Ahhhh.......what were we talking about?

[Hitokage]

I wonder how much it will cost... for only 200 miles, you'd think it'd be cheap, but I bet it'll cost around $100,000.

[b1shmu63]

The original FCX concept cost over a million. Fuel cells use Platinum as a catalyst. The search is on to find a cheaper alternative. Likewise the search is on to find a method of storing the hydrogen at a lower pressure by absorbing it into a porous lattice. Add to this that transporting hydrogen is problematic due to low power density and hydrogen embrittlement of metals and that handling pressurized flammable gasses presents safety and practicality issues that are familiar to welders and owners of natural gas vehicles. Nevertheless, if anyone can make this happen I'm convinced it will be Honda.

Would I want one? You better believe it! Of course, I owned a custom modified natural gas powered Honda Prelude, until the Quebec government shut down all the refueling stations. Sound like a familiar tactic for new and alternative technologies?

I promoted natural gas technology then. Now I promote hybrid technology because I believe it will supply the research and sales that will lead to the future technologies we are going to need as fossil fuels diminish. After all the FCX is a hybrid.

[JakkedUp]

http://www.switch2hydrogen.com/

Looks like this is a great way to store hydrogen.