Honda to Launch Production Hydrogen Fuel Cell Car in 2008
Published October 29, 2007
Honda President Takeo Fukui with the Honda FCX. Fukui said, “When the demand is there, the hydrogen economy will happen.”
Honda surprised many at the 2007 Tokyo Motor Show with the announcement that they will be putting a hydrogen fuel cell car into production next year for general sale. The company will produce fewer than 1,000 units. And though it makes perfect sense that Honda, over anyone else, would be the one to hit the production line first with this technology, most didn’t see this move coming for another five to seven years.
Honda surprised many at the Tokyo Motor Show with the announcement that they will be putting a hydrogen fuel cell car into production next year for general sale. The company will produce fewer than 1,000 units. And though it makes perfect sense that Honda, over anyone else, would be the one to hit the production line first with this technology, most didn’t see this move coming for another five to seven years. Hydrogen is generally regarded as the long-term vision for eco-friendly alternative fuels.
Based on Honda’s futuristic FCX concept car, the new vehicle will feature the silent ride and zero emissions attributed to fuel cells, which create electricity through a chemical process that emits only water vapor at the tailpipe. Furthermore, the vehicle will be able to travel an estimated 270 miles between refueling stops, and will display a range meter instead of a fuel gauge within the four-seater cabin. The potential hang-up, however, will be infrastructure, as there are a very limited number of hydrogen fueling stations in place throughout the U.S. Honda President Takeo Fukui, however, doesn’t seem too worried about that issue, confidently stating “When the demand is there, it [the hydrogen economy] will happen.” That’s the kind of forward thinking that seems to be leading Honda to make this major push in the first place. Now that the seal is broken, it’s likely that other automakers will follow with a sense of urgency.
The vehicle will initially be made available to Japan and the U.S. It will be shown to the public this November at the Los Angeles Auto Show.
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The real problem with using fuel cells is that right now the source of hydrogen will come from hydrocarbons. To really make this work well, we need to use wind and solar power to extract the hydrogen from water. Then we'll be entering a low pollution future.
Maybe, but at least there won't be as much pollution. However, if all the cars released water vapor instead of co2, I wonder if that will make cities really humid, or rain alot?
Excellant, But in a few years the Oil Cartels will be selling Hydrogen at the same price that gas is now.They will blame that on Research and devolopment! Same B.S!
We should have expected Honda or Toyota to be the first to release a hydrogen car. You knew it wouldn't be GM because they like to show prototypes of futuristic cars, to put on a good show. They just want to make low mileage gas guzzlers and reap big profits for the corporate big shots. Honda or Toyota deserve any and all profits they make for being inovative companies and coming out with the best hybrids and now a hydrogen car.
First of all, the styling on the Hydrogen Fuel Cell car is very cool; it is futuristic without looking freakish.
BMW has had a fleet of hydrogen powered 7-series sedans for years. Their official line is that they will be ready with hydrogen cars when hydrogen stations are ready.
So it seems Honda is beating BMW to the punch by being optimistic that fueling stations will "appear" and offering hydrogen cars for general sale (is 1000 cars truly released for "general sale")? If we are lucky perhaps hydrogen filling stations will come on line in some of the larger "green" cities in the US, like San Fran or LA. I live in Alabama, and we don't even have one E-85 station available to the public in the whole state. I suspect the cars will be lease-only so Honda will have the option of recalling the cars (but probably not crushing them) if the technology doesn't work out.
The hydrogen must be made from a carbon neutral source, otherwise this technology is a losing proposition for the environment. I understand it takes a lot of energy to create the hydrogen equivalent of one gallon of gasoline. If you burn fossil fuels to create the hydrogen, you would be better off just using the fossil fuel itself.
Ultimately hydrogen cars would be great if the initial energy source is renewable. Hydrogen will also help in helping reduce pollutants in urban air.
For the near term, I'm hoping for a cool Honda CR-Z 2 door hybrid in the coming years that can get some great gas mileage. If it doesn't come along, I may be driving an electric motorcycle like Vectrix or Enertia. Even in Alabama we have power outlets...
I wonder if any one has calculated the net effect of using hydrogen made from fossil fuel instead of using fossil fuel running a car? If we use less fossil fuel (and lass polution), it's good. Even if the net effect is zero, it's still good in terms of polution if the hydrogen plants are not in a crowded city. Only if we use more fossil fuel to produce hydrogen to drive the same distance as we use fossil fuel directly, we should be worried.
"It Figures
By PW
We should have expected Honda or Toyota to be the first to release a hydrogen car. "
What the &^^%%$ do people like you get out of constantly bashing American car firms and American workers ? Please move to Japan and eat rice!
How much will it cost? 100K? I will still try to buy one! Also they are making an optional home hydrogen generator to convert natural gas to H in your garage its about as big as a barbecue grill. that is what I read.
The oil cartels won't run this one because you can produce hydrogen by a number of different methods including wind and solar as mentioned above.
P.S. It's the workers. They make the crap they are told to. There are plenty of American workers making Toyotas and Hondas.
Opps. I meant to say it's not the workers. It's the leadership of the American manufacturers that is to blame. Most of the American stuff is made outside of the US anyway.
My boots are not made for walking as much as they were in my younger years. Build me a elect, gas,and solar scotter so I can eat American Steak. Already built a improved heat grabber a couple of years ago for my home. We all can help.Gmavin
That's great and I aplaud Honda for being forward thinking. However, by the time its affordable for me I will probably be too old to drive. I guess I'll just have to stick with my Hydrocarbon powered Prius. Which isn't bad considering I will get twice the range than the Hydrogen powered Honda at a fraction of the cost.
In volume less than 1000 the price has surely got to be an easy 100 grand.
Clearly this isn't a profitable venture but it sure is visionary. The best I can figure for their motive is that it will seed the hydrogen infrastructure that could be their future salvation.
Hydrogen is inferior, wasteful, and worthless. Should everybody decided that they want to drive hydrogen cars, the power that would require the production of hydrogen would be astronomical. Do some research, start by looking at this pretty diagram.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Battery_EV_vs._Hydrogen_EV.png
And this is for Dirk with the "bashing Americans" comment, Americans suck, Japanese are smarter, more innovative, cleaner, and friendlier than Americans (and I'm American, I'd "move to Japan and eat rice" in a heartbeat if I could)
Kudos to Honda for bravery in attempting something different. Shame on them for being so stupid.
The problem with hydrogen (H2) is that there is no natural source of it on our planet. It must be manufactured and that takes a lot of energy just to make it.
If you start with natural gas, it will waste about 25% of the natural gas to just produce H2 when you could just burn the natural gas in an internal combustion engine (ICE) like the Honda Civic GX.
If you produce it by electrolyzing water with electricity (whether from solar, wind, gas, coal, etc), you waste about 80% of the electricity and only about 20% actually goes to the road. A plug-in hybrid (PHEV) or pure Battery Electric Vehicle (BEV) only lose about 20% of the electricity so you will go a lot more miles with your energy source.
As far as the fuel cells themselves go, they are a very complex and expensive system. I doubt you will ever see them for less than a few $10's of K - just for the motor. The cars will likely never cost less than $100K and the first ones will probably cost over $500K although I'm sure they will be subsidized for a while.
Contrast this with cheap electric motors and even batteries are quite cheap relative to a fuel cell.
Regarding the H2: H2 is the smallest molecule in existance. Therefore, everything is permeable to it. H2 will leak out of any tank so it can't be stored for very long without losing it. This means that it cannot be stockpiled or stored but must be produced a few days before it is used. While subtle, this will make any H2 infrastructure very complex and expensive.
Hopefully, Honda will prove me wrong but H2 looks to me like a ruse to keep producing old fashioned gasoline fueled ICE vehicles for another few decades before having to actually do the right thing (PHEVs and BEVs).
Maybe in the meantime Honda could offer filling sites at their dealerships?
If that's all I had to do to fill up, I'd buy one.
Way to go Honda!!
""It Figures
By PW
We should have expected Honda or Toyota to be the first to release a hydrogen car. "
What the &^^%%$ do people like you get out of constantly bashing American car firms and American workers ? Please move to Japan and eat rice! "
This comment always cracks me up. Let's review, shall we?
Honda Accord: built in Ohio
Toyota Camry: built in Kentucky
Chevy Impala: built in Ontario
Ford Fusion: built in Mexico
So tell me, *who's* bashing American workers here?
I have read that water vapor is a greenhouse gas - in fact, more so than CO2.
Can somebody clear this up for me?
There is big talk about Hydrogen even though the # of vehicles running on this fuel is < 1000.
On the other hand, there are 7 million + vehicles running on natgas, but no talk about it.
Amusing, so where is the Hydrogen going to come from.
And how come Honda believes in Hydrogen, but not plugins.
Only Time will tell whether the Hydrogen economy is going to materialize, or natgas and biofuels will shoot into prominence.
For those bashing Hydrogen in favor of electric, please remember that cars are not the only thing using gas. Try running a plane with electric. Think about how much fossil fuel is used in other applications and realize that Battery Electric Vehicles are a stepping stone. They are a GOOD stepping stone, but not where it needs to end up. Also realize that Hydrogen and EVs can co-exist, since both technologies (primarily) use similar motors once the energy potential is converted to electricity. Once both are being made, demand can determine which is preferred. Right now, I can't even convert my own car to a decent electric car due to price constraints. I just want to be able to have my Electric car for commuting and my Hydrogen car for trips. Honda is making that a reality. Hopefully GM will pull their head out and realize that they are about to get passed again and not make the same mistakes they did in the 70's.
well this is a hot subject judging by teh number of post in a short amount of time. So let me weigh in on a few of them. First yes making H2 from natural gas does defeat the purpose of being "green". However a benefit is convenance in that you can fill up in your own home. Creating H2 from water via solar or wind, is ineffecent however it is free (minus cell or windmill cost)and very green. It would seam to me that a solar cell array on the roof of my garage to create the H2 while I'm at work, would create H2 for my "fill up" the following morning. Wind power makes more sence to deploy on a community level vs a individual home, so I'll leave that for another day. once a large enough percentage of drivers are using a renewable green and most important decenteralized fuel source market forces will make gasoline for cars a much less powerful market force it is today. As far as pure electric cars are concerned I see the competition between to two similar in concept to the gasoline Vs. Dissel engines of today. both have there pros and cons. Which will prevail...both. I have to disagree with the cost estimate above of 500K. Even 100K seams to far fetched. But before I talk about price numbers I'd like to see some numbers from the manufacture. Otherwise its just guess work. Finally ICE's are on the way out I think we can all agree on that. What we're argueing now is VHS Vs Beta. In the end it might be price that wins out.
i disagree with some comments since hybrid cars do help reduce carbon emissions.There are their downfalls such as for blind people the relie on their hearing but in general they help with the issue of reducing carbon emissoions
yes i know who u are but talk only about the subject u bloody idiot .batteries mo dont ya know there is a longer life battery for hybrid cars
With sudid, will electricity ever run out?
My opinion about hybrid cars is that it looks like a really good idea. No more oil spills in the sea! anyway, Earth will be using MUCH more electricity and we COULD have a shortage on power. Do you have to recharge your car everday? That could be a much more better thing than driving off to the petrol station, looking at the gas prices while you are filling up your car with oil. But we will need more sockets in the walls, won't we?
Hey, l34thl3, imagine three quarters of the world using electricity everyday, every year. People will count on electricity like they care for their lives. So, what IF there was no electricity? Oh, the world would be in chaos. And what IF scientists couldnt find a new energy source to support electricity? They would have to postpone th realease of hybrid cars, won't they?
I have no love for Oil Companies. A little competition from another sector could be what is needed to help them realize that there are better ways to use crude oil than sticking with the status quo. Hydrogen is the most plentiful element on earth and can be made from many sources. Current internal combustion engines can easily be converted to run on Hydrogen or other gases. Hydrogen as a fuel is not a new concept it has been around for 150 years or more.
If you make the hydrogen by splitting water with electricity from wind or solar, then great.
Unfortunately, the Bush administration has made sure the head of the table in this effort is held by the oil companies. If you are making the hydrogen from hydrocarbons, then burning it in a fuel cell, you are delusional if you think you are doing any good for american energy independence, the environment or anything else.
The challenge becomes producing the hydrogen without using hydrocarbons (e.g., wind, solar, nuclear,...).
Only George Bush could be stupid or mendacious enough to come up with such a plan. And it's a republican saying that!
It's been said a couple times that the efficiencies for converting water into hydrogen are pretty low and at the moment inefficient, making it a silly waste of energy to produce hydrogen and then use it in a car insted of just using electricity or gas straight away in the car.
Let's not forget that the steam engine started out with an efficiency of only 3%, internal combustion engines were similar. The reason why these technologies became so efficient was because of the ongoing high demand production and research into them, in the case of internal combustion, current cars have had a century to mature. I don't doubt hydrogen will be the same way, it has to start somewhere, which is why I aplaude Honda's guttsy and future thinking move. As hydrogen cars begin to take hold of a larger segment of the market, over time, this will push the development of new technologies and materials. I think it's inevitable that the efficiencies of both the production and use of hydrogen will approach those of the current internal combustion engine, and costs will obviously also go down, even if this is the far off future. This is the thinking behind the hydrogen economy anyway.
Also, in the case of going Plug in Hybrid or Battery Electric Vehicle, I'd just like to point out the environmental impacts of the production and disposal of the chemical batteries, there can be some pretty toxic stuff involved.
I do not believe that Hydrogen will in the near future be a source for automobile power, or anyother. Oil reserves are plentiful, and new means of Climat/Geo Engineering will alow us to control the earths temp. Lowell Wood has developed a way to inject sulfate particles into the atmosphere... The earth will be saved, and we can continue on our marry ways with our jets, trucks and other gas powered toys. It will be great, let science lead the way!
I like the idea of a car fueled from hydrogen and that all it emits is water vapor!
but!!!
To all you people who are knowledged about global warming and the greenhouse effect, you will know that water vapor is a green house gas.
So yes with this new technology we're trying to get rid of our dependancy on oil but we still are emitting greenhouse gasses and contributing to global warming.
well i just wanted to say. this new car does sound good. BUT right now I am PISSED at those Japanese...They kill seals (you know Hayden Panattierie from Hero's) tried to stop the slaughter and now they are going after 1000 whales in protected Antarctic waters. What the heck is the matter with those JAPANESE....you know they are not doing this for the environment. You can not consider a country like that environmentally friendly. Shame on them. When the BMW comes out I will give them my business. Not the Japanese...unless they change their ways....
"water vapor is a green house gas."
right, but its a lot easier to condense water vapor into liquid water (good!) than it is to store carbon monoxide/carbon dioxide as solids. it probably won't be long before hydrogen fuel cell cars get water condensers on their tailpipes.
by the way, i just got this new zero emissions, high mileage vehicle. its called a freakin bike. get one.
Kudos to anyone who developes a different fuel source personal or commercial vehicle to transport anything. Let the number crunchers determine which is best. Blame no one, put no one down. The bean counters rule the world as cheaper is always better in their minds. Why not capture the power of the solar winds and microwave the energy to the poles and around the world via satellite. The earth as a planet has a limited amount of energy to acquire and use. Recycle when effective. Saving is not always cheaper, but with a limited resource, always better. Always and never are always prone to exceptions.
Our planet is a box, we all must share and get along or we will become extinct. Nature provides checks and balances when plant or animal populations exceed the worlds or even any specific areas resources. Think outside the box. Us humans depend on it.
ok i get that everybody in this world wants their opinion heard but why is there always a person who must step on someone else's post... let it go voice your opinion in a respectable manner this why other countries think we are ignorant... everyone has a voice right or wrong make your argument respectably
yes automotive parts are imported some are made here in the us most cars from foreign makers are assembled here anyways
we are all people who want to be heard and respected for our opinions so if you have an argument do some research before you post something you think is right help people out with information
god bless America, the troops, and of course all of you
love thy neighbor which we all our
Before knowing that Honda was using hydrogen to fuel the car, I wondered if they were using water.
I was thinking that with the new water heaters we have that produce instant hot water why can't you make a car along the same lines as the steam locomotives using that type of technology?
Nothing's impossible. Just have to let the genius types keep trying till one of them gets the right answer.
Everyone is going to complain. Some will like it and some will complain about it. All the time. Have any of you been to the EU. Well here is a good answer to a big problem. Build more train tracks. Okay you can't chose your own speed like every US citizen wants. Complain about that. Live in fear america. Good luck to you.
I assume it takes more fossil fuel to produce Hydrogen into a usable form. If it is in liquid, it will need to be compressed and will require a tremendous amount of energy. No one seems to be talking about polluting to get cars to emit less. The net pollution will probably be the same or more.
BTW - EU - Germans tend to drive as fast as they want and are killing the black forest at the same time.
Gas is becoming more expensive because it’s becoming harder to retrieve it. Gas is made of fossil fuels which are the remains of plants and animals that lived more than 300 million years ago, when the only animals on the earth were sea life, amphibians and the earliest reptiles, Bonnie Juetner a writer and editor of children’s reference books and educational video states. Gail Haines, winner of 1989’s Science Writing Award for Science Writing informed me that, ninety percent of the world’s oil reserves have already been discovered. It seems eventually the world will run out of oil. Therefore, the prices of rare items are costly, such as imported oil.
take a look at water-4-fuel.com its the best and cheapest way ive found to save gag
This report really helped me on my essay about global warming im interested to see what the future holds!
Hondas hydrogen home fueling station built by Power Plug Co. runs on natural gas which is about 25% cleaner than on electricity from fossil fuel fired power plants. They will be soon configured for solar power using the most advanced nanosolar film. You will be able to power your house off this film as well as your hydrogen generator. Remember that technological progress is accelerating quickly and the personal computor ,cell phones and LCD televisions are getting better and cheaper everyday. So will hydrogen transportation
Its nice to know the price of these cars. Im excited to know how much a fuel cell car will cost, but it seems that its being covered up.
I think that instead of the complications involved with fuel cell technology, hydrogen should be used in a internal combustion engine. That technology is proven to be reliable and it is already developed. Remember when people put the LPG kits on cars and trucks. Who says we can't do the same thing with hydrogen, and hydrogen stations could be wind or solar powered. As far as the oil in the crankcase goes most are using synthetic polymers even now.
Gentleman,
You can defend American Car manufactures anyway you want, But please do not add
negative words. It only make people thinks that you are a race discrimator. You will
fail to make your point.
umm...well first of all why do people always have to immature and turn something as simple as an article on Hydrogen Fuel Cells into a racial battle. Who cares!! Seriously, yes the japanese may have more success right now. And yes the American Made cars have been slacking of lately, but honesly, do we really have to act like a bunch of "americans" just by arguing about racial supremecy! That is basically the definition of America Today, which race will rise up and become the most dominant. Anyway we are getting off topic!
And no i dont think you would move to Japan anyway! you probably have a life here in America, and you are just upset and jelous of japan that American made cars are not innovative as Japanese cars. Even if u really did want to move and you did...you would not fit in and would get a bunch of BS about how ur from america, and american made cars suck and bla bla bla,
so dont friggen bash ur own country man!! respect...thats what its all about...dont ditch us, help america improve!!
and no i am not a hipee
just an american
To make a comment like that about a Co. that is willing to spent the money and go as far as they have, even when the opposition is fueling negative thinking to protect there own interests. One should asked the question why did we not due this thing with hydrogen, and soon you can see the self serving reasons our automobil manufacturing have. I do not need to go in to details, for an eight year old can see the interests in ( burn more Oil ). So get another job if you want to have an income, maybe you could get a job at Honda making rice burners. Or better yet hydrogen Cars.
av, are you jealous?
To J. Adams. Your comments are True and Genius.
Look... you mention about pollution. I have to tell you... I lived in pollution all my life and when it comes to getting a new vehicle, you look at bottom line. Why am I going to go to another technology if there is no incentive to me in getting it? So what I'm saying is that pollution doesn't matter to me, there will always be pollution. Having a pollution savings is the bi-product, the main goal here is to gain savings.
Do we all realize that riding a bicycle and walking more solves 3-4 problems....that is to say a reduction in consumption which is what is driving the market, lower emissions into the environment, and the real incentive is you will soon be able to see your shoes as your waste line and health care costs decrease
You will be able to get the Honda for 600$ a month If they through with it.
I have read most of the comments. Ones that say they dont care about pollution that they live in it all there lives and only care about the pollution as much as the money they have sounds alot like the oil companys. Thats exactly what we dont need to think. I agree that hydreden in time will solve many co2 problums, however we need to solve the electrical power problums hydrogen will do us little good to help the envirment untill that happens. Nucular porwer is probably the most effecint and logical solution we have to solve it but it comes with its own down falls as well all that spent rodeoactive [&#@%!] has to go somewhere. Solor would be the cleanest way to go but would need large land areas and that is a very big problum to over come. we could put them on our houses that creats the problum of storing the power to use when the sun is not shinning. Wind is not as clean do to the fact of how much miterial goes into making them and then the upkeep of them but no co2 emmisons after being biult still a very good solution. hydroeletric is not an aption it dose far to much dammege to the fish and wildlife though temmting as it my be. geothermal is an example of great thinking using what the earth gives us natrualy is exsacly the kind of power that we need. With all this said looking at the world not only the envirmentl desasters that are accuring faster than we could have ever pridictied but the threat of what will happen when the strain on the econlmey becomes to much and the treat of wars looks emenite to fight for whats left of the oil. The time we have left to fix the damege we have couased as a species to the world grose shorter we must pull together not as a nation but as a world in wicth we all share. Hydrogen power is but a small part of a very large problum we all share. Will we wait untill its far to late or will we act NOW.
oil is every where in plastic, rubber, nylon,our rads are maid with oil. This is for u cheap baterded woried about cost somthin to think about. crud oil dobled in cost in the last 10 years at the curent rate it will duble again within the next 5 then u r goin to cry having to fill up that [&#@%!] oil guzzlin hog even a civic my cost over 100 dollers to fill up. Yes hydrogen is pritty in efficent to make so what we can make power withought making greenhouse gas u can not make oil do that. The butifull thing with hydrogen is that its made from water somthing we can all get to and ellecritity is also something many peple can get very easily So in theroy we wont need oil companies so get it for us we could use a machen that would make it for us in our own home.
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