Honda FCX Clarity - A fuel cell car you can drive to work now!
17 Jun, 2008
32 Comments 
“It’s a big day for Honda in Japan and an even bigger day for the automotive world, as their first ever production hydrogen fuel cell car came off the line today”
- Anthony Crawford
Zero emissions, hydrogen fuel cell powered Honda FCX Clarity, a dead set reality.
This is exciting news, as it may just be the beginning of the end for those oil rich OPEC countries who have made Trillions from the sale of oil to the west over the years.
The FCX Clarity emits zero emissions, just plain old water out of the exhaust pipe. You can just see all those Brits rushing to place their orders, so as to avoid the twenty-five pound congestion tax in London.
Honda has been developing fuel cell systems since 1989, prior to any other car maker and has ten previous generation fuel cell cars for experimental use throughout the world.
Like all current hydrogen fuel cell cars, the FCX Clarity is powered by a fuel cell stack which uses a chemical reaction between hydrogen and oxygen to convert chemical energy into electrical energy, to power the motor that drives the wheels.
But here’s the catch, you can’t buy one for love or money. You have to lease the car at a cost of US$600 per month and that includes, maintenance and comprehensive insurance.
The US and Japan will only receive 70 cars per year combined and the Hollywood set has already signed up. Jamie Lee Curtis and her filmmaker husband, Chris Guest want one as does Ron Yerxa, film producer and partner at Bona Fide Productions (Cold Mountain, Little Miss Sunshine).
What’s makes the FCX Clarity so useable as an everyday vehicle is its four door design, a 30 percent increase in range to 450 kilometres and a 25 percent increase in combined fuel economy to 3.1L/100kms which is simply outstanding.
Honda has also made considerable gains in the battery area. Inside the Clarity, is a lithium ion battery pack which is 40 percent smaller and 50 percent lighter than the previous generation car.
Just three Southern California dealerships will comprise the world’s first ever fuel cell dealer network, and all will be close to hydrogen refuelling stations. That’s Costa Mesa, Santa Monica and Torrance for those that want to jump the queue.
Location: Home / Car News / ...
Rate Post: 
(2 votes, average: 5 out of 5)
Loading ...
-
Print it:
![Picture 359 [1024x768] [800x600].jpg](http://www.caradvice.com.au/wp-content/gallery/2008amv8vr/Picture 359 [1024x768] [800x600].jpg "Picture 359 [1024x768] [800x600].jpg")
![Vehicle Semi Anechoic Chamber 6 [1024x768].jpg](http://www.caradvice.com.au/wp-content/gallery/2008fordfalconofficial/Vehicle Semi Anechoic Chamber 6 [1024x768].jpg "Vehicle Semi Anechoic Chamber 6 [1024x768].jpg")
June 17th, 2008 at 1:06 am
It even looks great! Not sure about the fact you can only lease them, arh well soon enough.
(Report)
June 17th, 2008 at 1:24 am
This whole hydroden biz just frustrates me. Why build all new cars and retrain our mechanics when better and cheaper options exist?
We are talking about Algae Petroleum. If you haven’t heard about this technology yet your don’t feel bad. Most haven’t. Political mumbo-jumbo I’d suspect.
Ok. Algae uses bad emissions to grow. It grows fast(fastest growing plant on Earth). Fuel can be made in 5 days or less. Produces good clean oxygen as it grows. Vehicles need little to no modifications to run off the stuff. The bi products are ethanol and food for animals. 20 to 40 million acres will totally satisfy the US demand. The cars running on the stuff won’t require an arm and a leg to pay for repairs.
Seriously. Research algae petroleum.
I’m convinced it’s the right answer.
Peace and grace.
(Report)
June 17th, 2008 at 1:33 am
Cool - beaten Toyota to the raceline. This will be a good trial for the technology.
Naimless - Ok but i’m sure the boffins have considered it. Algae pumps coming to a fuel station near you.
(Report)
June 17th, 2008 at 1:54 am
oh, but what about the emmissions from the honda plant? and what about the spare parts? and what about the maintanance and the workshops that perform repairs and services? and the recycling of the car? and what about the hydrogen?
unless you green-ify EVERY SINGLE COMPONENT not just the running of the car, but the life and death of the car, i really don’t see the point. i can pretty much guarantee that the hydrogen this car runs on wasn’t produced in a green way, which is a pretty big kick in the nads from the get go.
While its good to see progress, i still dont see any sort of performance or even a fun car. i’d much rather a BMW 118d (which unfortunately they don’t sell here). I really think diesel is a great short term option and the government should be looking to reduce their taxation on it, so it returns to a price BELOW petrolium, where it belongs, as a more unrefined and crude product.
in short, unless that hydrobuggy can outrun the local pigs im not interested.
haha im kidding!
or am i?
of course i am!!
……………..
(Report)
June 17th, 2008 at 3:41 am
Ok -this Hydrogen fuel cell sh*t is really beginning to piss me off. An excercise in scientific self-enjoyment by a bunch of propellor heads, egged on by politicians who can’t do the basic maths.
Fuel cell powered car: Grid power to make H2 thru electrolysis (70% eff) x compress H2 (90% eff) x fuel cell efficiency (40%) = 25% grid to motor efficiency.
Battery powered car: Grid power to charge battery (93% eff) x Li Ion battery efficiency (93%) = 86% grid to motor efficiency.
So put simply if a battery powered electric car needs 15kwh of grid electrical energy to travel 100km, the same electric car powered by H2 fuel cell will need 3-4 times as much grid electrical energy (45-60kwh) for the same result. Real green huh?
The average motorist travels 15,000km/yr, lets round that to 50km/day. If a plug-in hybrid vehicle has say, 100km worth of grid charged battery power on board (about 15kwh of energy), the IC engine on board will rarely need to be used (only if the daily kms exceeds 100km), and what you will be paying is offpeak power rates for recharge each night (8 cents per KWh - Truenergy quote in Victoria!).
So, with the above plugin hyrbid to travel your 15,000km you will need about 2,200kwh, which will set you back about $180/year… or the equivalent of 0.6 litres /100km fuel economy if you were otherwise paying $1.80 litre for fuel!!
(Report)
June 17th, 2008 at 6:00 am
damn cant that be our new accord. An all the scientific jumbo is rubbish as the technology is new have a look at a petrol engine form 1970 [23 litres per 100k]
so effivciency can only go up
(Report)
June 17th, 2008 at 6:44 am
Good one Honda
(Report)
June 17th, 2008 at 9:14 am
This is a very interesting development, but its an electric car at the end of the day which is where were all heading. As pointed out by Marketmaker, it appears a lot of people don’t realise that hydrogen production uses a lot of electricity in the first place. Your basically doing:-
Electricity -> hydrogen -> fuelcell -> electric engine.
Notice the car still has batteries and each step of this chain loses efficiency. The answer is an electric car.
Nicnaimless, the algea idea is a very good alternative and is already massive in aerospace, there are several trials happening this year. Yet to see any cars running on it, don’t ask me why.
(Report)
June 17th, 2008 at 9:34 am
Hey, no Honda, you just can’t develop this kind of car without the Victorian & Federal governments giving you $70M that you don’t need or want.
Good on Toyota for being in the right place at the right time…
(Report)
June 17th, 2008 at 9:44 am
It may come as a surprise to a number of Toyo-tossers but Toyota doesn’t hold exclusive rights to Hybrid Technology -infact didn’t they just get done for pinching someone elses idea..
Not only that but if it wasn’t for substantial financial support from the Japanese government I doubt Toyota would have even considered Hybrid technology…. Yet they claim to be the innovators…. I’m amazed they don’t claim that they invented the car as well
As for Honda this car looks alot better [apart from the chrome highlight on the bumper] and appears to be alot more practical than the Prius.
Therefore IF i had tro buy a Hybrid I [and I suspect many others] would go for the Honda; as they have done it on their own and not rammed the message or their success etc down peoples throats.
(Report)
June 17th, 2008 at 9:59 am
Good work Honda!
Hmmmm….all we need is a useable energy source that can give us limitless power to run our electric cars.
Until then be it Hydrogen, Plug in or Algae I just hope they hurry up so we can shed our dependability on Fossil fuels. Its not like there will be no money in it. Which ever company establishes the most workable alternative will in the long run make bundles of cash in return.
Also what are the emissions like on the Algae fuel? Will it be eco-friendly?
Because it certainly sounds like the most convenient.
(Report)
June 17th, 2008 at 10:19 am
How soon before the Saudi Arabians offer to sell us cheap hydrogen? You don’t think those OPEC nations are lacking a back-up plan, do you?
As much as a technical achievement this is, our nearest hydrogen refuelling station is in California. And there’s a lot of water in between :P.
(Report)
June 17th, 2008 at 11:12 am
Interesting technology. And a car thats uglier than a Prius.
(Report)
June 17th, 2008 at 11:14 am
Marketmaker… I was under the impression that fuel cell powered cars get refueled with liquid hydrogen, there is no requirement at all for using grid power.
Also, fuel cells vary in efficiency depending on the electrodes used and the electrolyte, I’m pretty sure they go up to 80% efficiency.
Anyone else notice that the side profile of this car resembles the prius
(Report)
June 17th, 2008 at 11:15 am
Also Marketmaker, remember that because the battery packs of battery cars are so heavy in comparison to fuel cells, they will require more energy to move!
(Report)
June 17th, 2008 at 11:57 am
bets this will be the headline act in the first episode of Top Gear USA… unless Car Advice does Hollywood and steals the show, c’mon guys get over there for an exclusive first drive stateside.
(Report)
June 17th, 2008 at 12:56 pm
Roflmatic. Where do you suppose this Liquid Hydrogen comes from? They use grid power to extract it from Natual Gas.
And compare a Prius to an Insight and tell me who is a serious hybrid manufacturer.
(Report)
June 17th, 2008 at 12:59 pm
I love how “Marketmaker” typed out a very well written, intelligent factual response, and than people just ignore it for no good reason.
You should be working for the car companies if you have that sort of understanding.
(Report)
June 17th, 2008 at 1:35 pm
Rolfmatic - liquid hydrogn takes even more energy to produce than compressed H2. In spite of this the mmain reason liquid H2 is still used is that you can store more H2 in a smaller space and you don’t need a very thick walled, very heavy gas tank to hold the stuff pressurised.
Unfortunately liquid H2 is stored at -252C! So it needs high tech tanl design to store it. Also it boils off its contents at about 3-4% per day (in order to stay cold) so don’t go away on holidays for a month or there will be no fuel left when you get back!
Tom - thanks for the complement mate but I think it would be quite frustrating working for most of the mainstream car companies. Think I’ll just stay invested in the companies who will benefit from the electric age (those with lots of copper, aluminium, uranium etc) and try to spot the winner in the better battery race early enough!
(Report)
June 17th, 2008 at 2:23 pm
Marketmaker, indeed! The idea of using electricity to produce hydrogen, then to transport that, and then store it greatly outweighs the energy thats in the hydrogen. Therefore we would be in a eventually ending spiral of using more energy to produce less. The less steps in getting energy to where its needed, the better.
(Report)
June 17th, 2008 at 2:32 pm
Ah sorry, I used the liquid hydrogen phrase generally. I thought that the hydrogen they will use to fuel cars and liquid hydrogen was synonymous!
Just pretend I said pressurised hydrogen, not liquid hydrogen
Still I wish I had the time to crunch out numbers to figure out which product is more efficient - because even though the battery powered cars are more efficient in terms of the chemical reactions, It might use up that energy faster because so much of the energy is being used to move the heavy battery in the first place.
(Report)
June 17th, 2008 at 3:45 pm
Electicity to Hydrogen to electricity plus batteries plus plugin 240v.
Now when can we start on those Nuclear Power plants.
Yippee!!!!
(Report)
June 17th, 2008 at 4:38 pm
First and foremost, Its good to see car manufacturers taking a leap and trying out trying something new. Even though the motive could be as shady as riding the Eco bandwagon to make a quick buck or really genuine to take human transportability to the next level.
MarketMaker, that is good insight on the energy conversion figures and clearly shows if that is the case, that this technology has not found a good footing to make it feasible on a mass level. But as O suggested this is in its infant stages, and will improve over time.
I don’t want to do this but.. Look back at the first computers, massive vacuum tubes and the size of a house and what did it manage… to calculate 1 + 2 or in the lines of that. Clearly the economics are not there cost vs benefit, but it did drive others to improve on and innovate, likewise something like this what we will see that others will go “hang on we can do this better”, you’ll have smaller technology groups reverse engineering the system and develop better ones only to sell back to Toyota (hopefully not stolen back lol).
Hugo - “How soon before the Saudi Arabians offer to sell us cheap hydrogen? You don’t think those OPEC nations are lacking a back-up plan, do you?”
Yes they are lacking - have you been to those countries, have you seen the general state of them, the populance? even look at Dubai, AbuDhabi is all a big wonderland. Petrol is the only thing bringing money to their economy, they second largest export is dates, they make some good steady money from Hajj as well but thats all. The Kings/princes squander the money from oil sales not into proper infrastructure growth, but to build Super Shopping centres, fun parks the size of tasmania, and hotels which only .0005% of people can afford, just to impress the global community on how “Grande” the middle east can be…,
Algae-petrol, sounds like an Idea, renewable, not overly hard to get going and cheap and produces positive byproducts, sounds like a clear winner for the short to medium term and possibly long term until something REALLY outstanding and beneficial comes along of course…
(Report)
June 17th, 2008 at 4:52 pm
Bah too much bagging of Toyota on this website made me write Toyota lol, I meant car manufacturer
(Report)
June 17th, 2008 at 6:21 pm
Interesting green technology, but two questions still remain.
Where are you going to fill up, the infrastructure just isn’t there… As said in the article, you must fill up at a couple of places, severely limiting the use of hydrogen vehicles for the mass market at the point in time.
Secondly, the car probably costs a fortune to make just one unit. That’s why Honda are leasing, they aren’t going to recover the cost, but at least they still own the vehicles and can continue to perform tests on them. Is the FCX going to be the next GM EV1?
(Report)
June 17th, 2008 at 6:35 pm
Wheelnut what world do you live in? I along with other Toyota supporters have mentioned hydrogen as being a step in the right direction. As for electricity, I think electrical cars may be the way but despite hyroden cells greater demand for energy in real terms… it would still be better for the enviro then diesel or petrol
(Report)
June 17th, 2008 at 8:31 pm
Hydrogen does not exist as hydrogen - it has to be manufactured. Hydrogen is just another way of storing energy so that you can transport it and carry it on board you car to make it go. But there are other options to fullfill this function: Batteries, capacitors, methane, LPG, diesel, petrol and any number of variants of “manufactured hydrocarbons (biofuels - including algae fuel, diesel made from methane,etc.)
Which is best? It depends on your criteria for whats important: Cost, greenhouse impact, self sufficiency.
And I agree with Joober that this will be a changing landscape with all technologies in a constant state of improvement.
I just think that Hydrogen is pushing sh*t up hill. Its always going to be a bugger to store/transport - all the inovations/enhancements in the world are not going to alter the basic thermodynamic limitations of the stuff.
You are always going to have to get it either from hyrdrocarbon reforming (which generates CO2) or from water (which requires you to put more energy in than you get out)
Battery/electric drive is way ahead ogf H2 on every criteria, and unlike H2 / fuel cells, battery/capacitor technology has strong & EXISTING commercial drivers pushing its R&D along at turbo pace!( think mobile phones, PCs, and military in the case of ultracapacitors).
BTW - Rolfmatic - H2 storage tanks are typically in the 100kg - 200kg range. Add that to the fuel cell weight and I think you would find there would be nothing in the weight difference comapred to batteries.
(Report)
June 17th, 2008 at 9:17 pm
I’m not gonna slam anyone for trying to get us out of this vicious oil cycle.
A)Car looks alright.
B)BMW made hydrogen using solar power. I know, to produce solar cells you would spend shyteload of $ and energy, but even your oil burner was pretty inefficient in the late 1800’s compared to now. Give them a break, give them a chance.
(Report)
June 17th, 2008 at 10:07 pm
I think the aim of the game is to get the world onto a hydrogen economy so that hydrogen can be manufactured in a sustainable fashion. As Anthony says the only thing that comes out of the tailpipe is water which means it moves the pollution from people’s backyards to somewhere out of sight which is a very powerful/political but globally useless function. Having said all this, I’m not convinced either.
The key is to get the energy from somewhere clean to make the hydrogen. Those options exist but are still in their infancy. Until this happens, fuel cells are only moving the problem somewhere else.
(Report)
June 17th, 2008 at 10:17 pm
to Joober :
mate have you been to the Middle East yourself? because all I hear you say is utter jibberish.
Dubai isn’t surviving on oil or date exports… the number of projects going on there, you’d have to be an ignorant twat to believe that only oil is the reason they are booming. While its an integral part of their economy, its not totally dependent on it.. Tourism, Arab Emirates (pretty sure I’ve read a number of times on their good high caliber ratings) then the property development. Hell even Brangelina got themselves a piece of land (on those Islands which resemble countries).
Do a bit of research mate, I suggest you get yourself updated…
*rant end/
(Report)
June 17th, 2008 at 10:33 pm
If the only thing out the exhaust pipe is water imagine how many people will be killed on permanently wet roads!!
Bugger that.
I’d rather billowing clouds of tyre smoke and a roaring bellowing internal combustion engine burning fantastic amounts of powerful fossil fuels and leaving two smoking strips of rubber down on my favourite piece of dry road as the tacho swings to the redline and I snatch second gear and do it all over again……
Oh, and the anti-spam word.. Bugatti, I rest my case.
(Report)
June 17th, 2008 at 11:12 pm
dohcv8 - yeah I have to admit the whirr of an eletric drive will not compare to a bellowing V8.
I think we’ll need to include in the electric car specs a thunderous stereo system blasting a high fidelity V8 burble & roar. Maybe an offbalance rotating shaft somewhere to complete the effect…… nah!.. I agree that even won’t cut it!
(Report)