The name is FCX Clarity. Honda announced the first limited production of a hydrogen car with 200 of this model will be released in Japan and the US but only after 3 years. FCX Clarity model is powered by a hydrogen fuel cell and probably boasts zero greenhouse gas and other pollutants except only emissions of water vapor.
Hydrogen fuel cars are the suitable solution to plug-in electric cars and conventional car set to be arrive in numbers start from 2010. Honda will only suggest the Clarity under lease, at a cost of $600 per month to American motorists.
The company says the car has a range of 270 miles (430 kilometers) per tank, 30 per cent higher than the last model, and can reach a speed of 100 miles per hour (160kmh). Hydrogen consumption is equivalent to 74 miles per gallon, three times greater than that of gasoline.
The Clarity is not Honda’s first hydrogen car but its cost of production has come down substantially from previous attempts after recent advances in fuel cell design. Honda President Takeo Fukui said the car still costs hundreds of thousands of dollars to make but it could be made for under $100,000 well within ten years – at which point mass market production will be viable.
The Clarity is only being offered to US residents around Los Angeles where three existing hydrogen fuel stations are located. The lack of retail distribution network for hydrogen fuel is a major factor holding back the advance of the car to mass market production.
This is one downside among many positives Reuters correspondent Nicola Groom reports from her driving experience in a General Motors’ hydrogen prototype, the Chevy Equinox.
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