2008 Honda FCX

Behind the wheel of the Honda FCX hydrogen-powered car is both monumental and a non-event
By DUTCH MANDEL
AutoWeek | Published 10/23/06, 8:42 am et

2008 HONDA FCX
MOTOR: Type—AC synchronous motor with 95 kW max output; 256Nm max torque
FUEL CELL STACK: Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell (PEFC). Output: 100 kW
FUEL: Compressed hydrogen stored in high-pressure tanks; capacity 45 gallons
ENERGY STORAGE:Lithium ion batteries
MAX SPEED: 100 mph
MAX RANGE: 270 miles
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Get in Honda’s FCX sedan, go for a ride and as you would expect from any Honda product, there is little drama: Put your foot to the drive-by-wire throttle pedal and off you go. It zips to 100 miles per hour, and it stops just as well. FCX gets a reported 270 miles on a full tank. There is sufficient room in back for two large adults, and its lines are almost avant-garde.

We expect this of a mainstream Honda sedan. Throw in that the FCX is hydrogen powered and filled by a “pump” hooked to your house’s natural gas supply, and even casual observers realize this so-called lack of drama is itself dramatic.

The FCX is a working hydrogen-powered prototype that will be on sale to consumers in 2008, launching a year earlier than anticipated. Corporately, Honda also has a plan to address the cumbersome question of how to build a hydrogen infrastructure, but more on that later.

The FCX was unveiled at the October 2005 Tokyo motor show. The technology has been in development in-house for more than two decades, and the sedan is the next step from Honda in making fuel cell vehicles practical and cool. Engineers repackaged the fuel cell stack into the central transmission hump to go with a conventional fwd motor underhood. Since introduction of their involvement in the technology in 1999, the fuel stack has been reduced in size from cumbersome to comfortable; it went from roughly the size of a small coffee table to that of an overworked CPA’s briefcase, and from horizontal to vertical stacks. More important, the output increased roughly 40 percent every three years to get it to its current output and range. High-pressure storage tanks for the hydrogen lie below and ahead of the trunk, essentially atop the rear axle and out of harm’s way.

The FCX drive at Honda’s test track in Japan was controlled and brief, yet was sufficient to understand that this wasn’t about testing a vehicle, but about the powertrain itself. FCX is quiet, as all hydrogen fuel cell vehicles are, with the only noise a soft purr of its electric motors and wind whistle whipping over mirrors. Torque is immediate: Output comes when you put your foot to the throttle. (Technically, we could still say “put your foot to the gas,” but it is a new gas, indeed.) The ride from pit lane was reminiscent of a golf cart whirring along, except that the engineer riding shotgun, a lab-coated gent identified only as Ken, kept saying “Faster! Faster!” These are our kinds of engineers.

Obviously, Ken was proud of the FCX’s performance. It sped right up to 95 miles per hour on the banked oval, brakes slowed it quickly along the back straight, and then it got back to cruising speed without a hiccup. A driver experiences a type of disassociation; not just because the instrument panel looks to be from the Starship Enterprise, but you expect an engine thrum or transmission whine or the aural click of a shifter going through the gearbox detents. None of those are onboard this sedan; this is driving with Jetson-like propulsion without the benefit of a Vespa scooter burble.

The last several months have seen a surge of alternative propulsion news and vehicles racing to the front pages of the popular press. As General Motors paraded its hydrogen-powered Sequel sport/ute to the world, Honda revealed a brace of environmentally friendly power units, including flexible-fuel vehicles, a 2.2-liter ultra-clean diesel engine, a clean lawnmower engine, and a third generation of the home-based hydrogen filling station.

These boys have been busy.

In fact, this home hydrogen refueling technology separates Honda from the field that continues to think of the gas station model. Using natural gas as its energy source, the Honda Energy Station III is a home-based refueling station that, through a series of chemical processes, converts natural gas to hydrogen. Not only will HES III, as it is known, fill your car with the hydrogen it needs (in a low-pressure environment that ensures it fills to the top), it also provides electricity and heat for an average-size household. The HES III can also be a backup power-generating system during power outages by using hydrogen in its storage tank to power an internal fuel cell. This gives off as much as five kilowatts of power in normal and emergency conditions, and does so while reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Yes: Honda has a free-standing solar-powered HES system available for commercial application, too. Can you say turn-key infrastructure?

Listening to Honda president and CEO Takeo Fukui talk about the emerging technology, you sense an honesty about a corporate need to do right for the environment. There is weight to the burden—with some 21 million made annually, Honda is the world’s largest manufacturer of internal combustion engines. How many of those will be replaced by hydrogen-powered fuel cells, only time will tell.

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Excerpt from AutoWeek.com

Wow, lots of thoughts here. The thing is but ugly but the technology is pretty cool.

Isn't this what the ghostbusters used to catch slimer?

"FUEL CELL STACK: Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell (PEFC). Output: 100 k"


I guess the next time the power goes out I just plug my truste Honda into my eletric meter. No more missed UFC fights now!!!

" The HES III can also be a backup power-generating system during power outages by using hydrogen in its storage tank to power an internal fuel cell. This gives off as much as five kilowatts of power in normal and emergency conditions, and does so while reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Yes: Honda has a free-standing solar-powered HES system available for commercial application, too. Can you say turn-key infrastructure? "

I think it would take a little getting used to not hearing a motor rev up when you step on it.

Yeah, I though it was pretty cool that while you are charging up your car, it servers as a home battery backup on the stored hydrogen. Thats pretty damn slick.

Wow that is pretty cool, however as a backup generator i belive they might be pushing it. 5kw at 120/240v, 1 phase, makes about 20 amps max. Enought to keep the fridge and mabye a light bulb on.

None the less the MPG is insane!