Comments on: 2010 Honda Insight Hybrid – First Look

By: Grant

Grant — Mon, 20 Dec 2010 04:25:37 +0000

NO WAY the second gen Prius at least is much better looking , but maybe not the 3 gen

By: Fasthonda

Fasthonda — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 12:06:43 +0000

@Ford Ranger

You are wrong about the Insight looking the Prius.
I suppose Ford could spend the hundreds of millions of dollars on research into the hydrogen alternative but, along with the other pathetically run conpanies like GM and Chrysler,they’re also too busy…….going broke!

By: JEKYL & HYDE

JEKYL & HYDE — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 11:51:57 +0000

george bush jr has publicly endorsed hydrogen as the next big thing in car propulsion.this fact alone should send alarm bells off to all the pro-hydo guys.electric cars are currently THE MOST efficient ones out there(read cheap)no close second.batteries can be recycled too.just like the gov’t is now looking at empty bottles 10c refund aussie wide.

worth having a look at blacklight power,and the joe cell on the net too.

By: Ford Ranger

Ford Ranger — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 08:02:38 +0000

The Insight looks like the Priass, ugly as all hell only your mother would love, how come battery cars have be designed for the older generation.

Bring on hydrogen cars now………the reason they are not in production is the oil companies would be out of business makes sense hey.

By: john.a

john.a — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 22:21:50 +0000

did any one see the top gear segment on the clarity last monday?it seems to me that hydrogen is the way of the future,though one wonders what the next enviroment problem will be with millions of cars emitting h20,goodby warming hello soggy planet?also the clarity is not a bad looking thing.

By: Cupid Stunt

Cupid Stunt — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 20:44:35 +0000

Just read a test on it. The overall was it ain’t quite a good as the Prius. The ride was described as “jittery” although the handling was good. Economy was on a par wwith the current Prius but with the new prius arriving soon with a bigger engine the Insite gets whipped.

By: Falcodore

Falcodore — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 10:27:42 +0000

Paul, agreed but one of the players you are forgetting about is Mazda. They have been developing hydrogen vehicles since the late 80s/early90s.

They currently have about 30 hydrogen RX8s leased to the Norweigian gov for trials and evaluation and are trialing rotary powered Mazda5s around Japan. Apparently rotaries are one of the better engines for this application.

But in saying that i think the Clarity is leading the way at the present time.

By: Paul

Paul — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 08:17:46 +0000

What DR1 said about Hydrogen at the current time, is correct. It requires the burning of ALOT of fossil fuels to create the Hydrogen that runs the Honda Clarity.

HOWEVER! Hydrogen cars and Hydrogen Car Technology is very very new. Honda is the 1st car company to start production of a car you can use everyday.

The Inferstucture is just not there yet, and Honda know this. Thats also why they created the Home Filling Station which can be used to power your whole house and refuel the car. However this does require it to be plugged into a Gas outlet.

Dont forget, its only the beginning, over the next 10 years, we are going to see ALOT of development and improvments in the way Hydrogen is rolled out and produced.

Every Car company agree’s that Hybrids are not the Future, they are stop gap in place to tie us over until we have a new fuel source to use (the most likely being Hydrogen). Hybrids and EV’s and whatever are there to reduce our need on fossil fuel supplys so they last longer.

BMW and Merc are also leading the way with Hydrogen cars. Now you can belive whatever you want, but the companies that will deside what fuel of the future we use will be up to the major players (Toyota, Honda, Mercedes etc) and they all agree Hydrogen is the way to go.

In the mean time however! the Insight, The Gen 3 Prius, the Volt, the Honda CRZ (when released) are great cars and they will last you the next 10 years until Hydrogen cars are affordable enough for your average family to purchase.

By: Falcodore

Falcodore — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 05:40:14 +0000

Hydrogen fuel cell tech is not a concept Dlr1, the ifrastructure to refuel a HFC car already exists in Norway and the US. Yes its limited at the moment but im sure petrol started out the same way, now they’re commonplace.

Plu hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe and its renewable, so why notexplore and exploit this formof energy?

Another plus is there is no emissions other than water out of the exhaust unlike hybrids.

By: geni

geni — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 04:19:53 +0000

What Dlr1, so the alternative to producing millions of tonnes (yes millions) of lithium ion batteries for cars is a more sustainable solution. Already researchers are breeding bacteria that produce hydrogen gas from waste products, water electrolysis using renewable energy allows us to use water unfit for consumption for our energy needs, the convenience of only taking a few minutes to fill up as opposed to having your car charge overnight. End of the day, batteries simply don’t have the required energy density to meet the needs of transport beyond very limited city transport. Yes, per Joule of energy, they are more efficient than fuel cell cars, but on a Joule per cubic metre perspective, they are inadequate. We’ve been developing batteries for longer than the internal combustion engine, people who say ‘look at how far IC technology went in 100 years, imagine what batteries can do’ are completely missing that fact. Batteries aren’t some new invention on the tip of the development-cost curve. Whereas fuel cell technology, despite use the space and other niche industries, is, and it has a lot of potential for massive improvement.