Honda Still on Track for Fuel Cell Vehicle Production

It seems like just yesterday that Honda rolled out its latest green innovation, the 2009 FCX Clarity fuel cell electric vehicle. After all the pomp and circumstance wore off though, the bottom line is that there just 10 examples of the zero emission vehicle on the road combined in both California and Japan, and most are likely in the driveways of celebrities such as Jamie Lee Curtis. Despite this low-level production of lease-only vehicles, Honda Motor Company is still committed to increasing production and eventually offering the FCX Clarity in mass numbers. Honda’s current goal is to have 200 fuel cell vehicles on the road by 2015 in the U.S. and Japan with the hopes to have mass production and competitive pricing for the green vehicles by 2020.

Hydrogen fuel cell vehicles are electric vehicles that generate electricity from hydrogen using a chemical reaction and emit only water vapor as a byproduct. Since hydrogen is an inexhaustible fuel source and is consumed cleaner than any other fuel, the benefits of such a fuel are endless, but according to Sachito Fujimoto, FCX Clarity's chief project manager, the development and resources that goes into building the fuel cells are the biggest challenge to the vehicle. At the heart of the 2009 Honda FCX Clarity Fujimoto says there is a 150-pound fuel-cell stack that is comprised of platinum and other precious metals.

"The biggest issue is that we cannot make so many stacks," said Fujimoto. "Everyday there's progress."

Fujimoto added that while the cost and limited availability of the fuel-cell stack resources are hindering, the biggest thing preventing mass production is the knowledge behind producing such large numbers of stacks. Another factor that would limit the production of fuel-cell vehicles is a hydrogen infrastructure. In the U.S., FCX Clarity leases are limited to the Los Angeles, Calif. area where there is a total of 16 hydrogen stations, but the driver is able to fill up the pressurized hydrogen tank similar to a conventional gasoline tank. Honda claims that the FCX Clarity has a range of 240 miles on a single fill-up compared to less than 100 miles for most proposed EVs coming to market.

The race to offer production hydrogen fuel cell vehicles will only intensify in coming years as Ford, Toyota and Kia develop their own fuel cell systems as well as the development of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV) and battery-electric vehicles (BEV). The 2011 Nissan LEAF and the 2011 Chevrolet Volt are likely to be the first affordable EVs available for general consumption in the U.S., but almost every major automaker is planning to develop such a vehicle within the next five years. In terms of how much work Honda has left to develop its sustainable hydrogen fuel-cell manufacturing capabilities, Fujimoto likened the task to climbing a mountain.

"The four stages out of the five in total are behind us," he said. "We're now at the beginning of the last and the steepest path to the top."

Although the FCX Clarity isn’t that common of a car, its wedge-shaped design went on to inspire the 2010 Honda Insight hybrid. Unlike the FCX Clarity, the all-new Insight uses Honda’s Integrated Motor Assist hybrid system, also used in the Honda Civic Hybrid, to improve fuel economy compared to similar compact hatchbacks. The Insight is currently the least expensive hybrid vehicle in the U.S.