Honda FCX at Newdelhi Auto expo-2008

                It’s the name Honda has given its production fuel cell car, and it’s a name you’ll want to remember. After years of having fuel cell prototypes in the hands of fleets and even paying customers, Honda makes good on its commitment to a hydrogen future. The 2008 NewDelhi Auto Show was the venue for the introduction of the FCX , an Accord-sized sedan with styling based on the FCX Concept from a few years ago that promises to “enable levels of performance room, comfort and dynamic styling previous unattainable in a fuel cell car.”

Why it Matters

Notice the price of gas lately? Sure, hydrogen isn’t cheaper – yet – but some day those oil wells will be sucking air, and so will 99.99999 percent of cars on the road today. Hydrogen is abundant, but difficult to get at. It’s no news that hydrogen holds great promise for the future as a fuel. But exactly what the future might look like was a mystery until this morning, when Honda’s FCX  was unveiled. As it turns out, it looks good, and promises to be good for those who can get one.

What’s Under the Hood

The V Flow fuel cell powering the FCX features several advances over the one in the smaller FCX prototype that you may have seen before, the one that looks a little like an old Civic. It will be the first production car to feature lithium ion batteries, which gives it a pack that’s 50 percent smaller and 40 percent lighter than the one in the prototype. The overall powertrain, including the fuel cell and electric motor, is 40 percent smaller, putting it roughly the size of a hybrid powertrain. The output is impressive: 100 kw (that’s 134 horsepower to you and me) and a 270 mile range on a tank of fuel. It’s the equivalent of 68 mpg.

What it Looks Like

The FCX  looks a lot like the Concept that Honda debuted two years ago at the Tokyo Motor Show. Obvious concessions have been made to production of course, but overall it’s a clean, sharp looking sedan that falls somewhere between the Civic and the Accord on the Honda styling tree. But while somewhat futuristic, it’s also conventional enough that it won’t scare off buyers who don’t want to feel like George Jetson. The fuel cell components are distributed evenly through the car for better weight distribution.

What’s Inside

The interior is a departure for Honda. Rather than the usual conservative lines, the FCX features a “floating” dash and center stack, which seem at first to be disconnected from the car. It’s a cool effect. Dig deeper though and the control layout is quite conventional, and any Honda driver will likely feel right at home behind the wheel. Because customers will be paying $600 per month on a lease, it’s also more luxurious than a conventional Honda, with rich materials and upscale features. The interior materials deserve special mention: Like the rest of the FCX, they have been designed with the environment in mind, using Honda Bio-Fabric, a plant based material that offers carbon dioxide reductions in production.

What Honda Says

As you can imagine, Honda has a lot to say. According to Tetsuo Iwamura, American Honda president and CEO, “The FCX  is a shining symbol of the progress we’ve made with fuel cell vehicles and of our belief in the promise of this technology. Step by step, with continuous effort, commitment and focus, we are working to overcome obstacles to the mass-market potential of zero-emissions hydrogen fuel cell automobiles.” Honda also notes that the FCX  will be available for $600 per month three-year leases in Southern California, where there are three hydrogen refueling stations available. It will also cover collision insurance and maintenance for the life of the lease.

What We Think

Honda one upped everyone else with the promise of a production fuel-cell car, and by making good on that promise, it may even out-green Toyota in the near future. There are obstacles of course: you can’t just run down to the corner gas station and get hydrogen, you can’t go as far as you can on a tank of fuel as you can in a regular car, and who knows what sort of maintenance problems there may be. Still, this is a promising car, and seeing it is as close as we’ll probably get to a crystal ball view of the future.

FCX's concept

At the 2006 Detroit Auto Show, Honda announced that it would make a production version of the concept FCX it had shown at the 2005 Tokyo Motor Show. On 25 September 2006 this new version was unveiled. The updated four-door sedan version looks much sleeker and more futuristic, and has a high focus on comfort and interior space. It has a much more spacious interior with a mixture of plastic, wood and leather.[6] Production is expected to begin in 2008 in Japan and the U.S.[7] The production version will closely resemble the concept, although it is unknown if some of the concept's more radical features, such as a tilting instrument panel, will be included.

According to Honda, the new fuel-cell stack is 20% smaller, 30% lighter and has a higher output of 100 kW (129 hp). The new powerplant is 180 kg lighter, 40% smaller in volume and has a high energy efficiency of 60%, compared with 20% for most internal combustion engines, 30% for most hybrid powerplants and 50% for the previous generation FCX.[8]

The new powerplant utilizes three electric motors: one front-drive motor with an output of up to 80 kW, this motor's shaft is coaxial with the gearbox for a more compact front-end, and two smaller motors with a maximum output of 25 kW driving one of the rear wheels each. This layout makes the FCX technically an all-wheel-drive vehicle. The updated FCX has a maximum speed of 160 km/h (100 mph).

The new FCX utilizes several interesting new features. The new V Flow fuel cell stack can operate at temperatures as low as −30 °C. This is achieved by allowing the gas to flow vertically in the fuel cell stack. The tanks can store up to 5 kg (171 litres) of hydrogen at a pressure of 350 atmospheres, thanks to the new hydrogen absorption materials used. This allows a longer range of up to 350 miles (570 km).

To support the hydrogen fuel-cell technology, Honda also introduced the Home Energy Station (HES). This home solution can convert natural gas to electricity, heat and hydrogen to refuel fuel-cell vehicles. This allows consumers to refuel vehicles with hydrogen at home, important until hydrogen stations become widespread. Alternatively, the hydrogen can be used in the HES's built-in hydrogen fuel cell, providing up to 5 kW of normal or backup electricity and/or hot water for the home. According to Honda, this solution is highly efficient and reduces running costs of electricity, gas and vehicle fuel by up to 50%.