Even as Honda plows forward with plans to be the first to introduce a fuel-cell production car, I found myself strangely uninterested in this alternative-energy vehicle. It seemed like an outdated look into the future, like finding a back issue of Popular Mechanics that said flying cars would be the next big thing.
Then one Sunday, the odd-looking, zero-emissions 2005 Honda FCX was delivered to my house. It sat there while I wrestled with how to fill it up with hydrogen on the weekend. I began to view it as a giant pain, an albatross that would never be more than a footnote in the history of transportation.
But then I drove it.
After about 20 seconds of beeps, whirs and strange groans, the display panel flashed "Ready to Drive." I slid it into gear and pulled onto the hydrogen highway. Within a mile, I knew what I would say in my review: Make the cost of this car competitive, make hydrogen stations readily available, and I'd be content to drive one of these babies from here on out.
But huge questions loom: Can you manufacture hydrogen inexpensively? Can you ship and store it safely? Answers to those questions are being hotly investigated by many more qualified minds than mine. And they are questions that will need to be answered before Honda's production vehicle, to be released in two years, can be more than just a pilot program. All I can tell you about is how it feels to drive this car. Cut back to me driving the FCX and push in for a tight shot revealing a smile on my face.
Are fuel cells coming of age?
The first usable fuel-cell cars began to appear on the roads in 2002, but they were limited in range and wildly expensive. The 2003 Honda FCX was the first hydrogen-powered fuel-cell car to be certified by the California Air Resources Board (CARB) and the U.S. EPA in July 2002. The 2005 FCX received a Zero-Emission Vehicle (ZEV) rating by CARB and an EPA Tier-2 Bin 1 rating, the lowest possible national emissions rating.
The 2005 FCX — which uses the same body as the Honda EV+ electric car — contains the first Honda-produced fuel-cell stack. It's quicker, has a longer range and gets better fuel-efficiency than earlier prototypes that lacked this power plant. Honda said the two primary goals achieved by the technology in this car were "to increase the fuel cell's environmental adaptability to a wide range of climates, and to make mass production more viable."
This second-generation FCX is a prototype worth more than a million dollars. It is capable of starting at temperatures as low as minus-4-degrees Fahrenheit and has a range of about 190 miles on a tank of hydrogen. The Honda Fuel Cell Stack PEMFC (Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell) delivers 107 horsepower via an electric motor. Additionally, it uses a regenerative braking system similar to what is used in hybrid cars, which converts the kinetic energy produced by the brakes into electrical energy and stores it in an ultra capacitor (no, not the "flux capacitor," from Back to the Future) which functions a bit like a battery. As a result, fuel economy is equivalent to a car getting an EPA city/highway rating of 62/51 miles per gallon of gas (57 mpg combined).
Fuel cell — a simple concept
The theory behind fuel-cell cars is simple enough. Hydrogen, which is stored under pressure in a tank, is mixed with oxygen from the air to produce an electrochemical reaction. It's a bit like having a battery that never goes dead as long as you keep adding hydrogen. Once the electrical power is generated, it can be used to turn a motor that propels the car. Power delivery is augmented by regenerative braking. In essence, driving a fuel-cell car is very similar to driving an electric car — except a fuel-cell car has a tailpipe from which water vapor is the only emission.
While development of the fuel-cell stack seems to have taken a big step forward, the infrastructure supporting the car is lagging severely behind. When we needed a refill for our test car, we had to take the FCX back to Honda's Torrance headquarters. The next time we were nearing empty, Honda arranged a fill-up only three blocks away from Edmunds.com's offices at the City of Santa Monica department of public works. While 25 hydrogen stations are listed as being within 100 miles of Los Angeles, only one is open to the public. The others are either still in the planning phase or are for private vehicle fleets.
Fill 'er up (with hydrogen)
The refueling process was similar to that used to refill compressed natural gas vehicles (CNG) except that, due to the extreme volatility of hydrogen, a ground connector is attached. The ground connection also reads information about the car's operation, including the temperature of the tank, so the maximum amount of hydrogen can be pumped into it.
The Department of Energy sets a benchmark price for hydrogen at $5 per kilogram (a kilogram is roughly equivalent to a gallon of gasoline). However, depending on how hydrogen is manufactured — often it is made as a byproduct of natural gas refinement — the price could vary significantly. Currently, there are stations selling hydrogen for as little as $3.60 a kilogram. Given that the fuel economy of the FCX is nearly twice that of a typical gas car, this makes the price per mile driven more economical.
Honda is planning a Home Energy Station (HES), an integrated module that runs off a household's natural-gas supply to generate hydrogen vehicle fuel. The HES could also provide heat and electricity back to the house.
Unique driving experience
Step on the accelerator of the FCX and you get instantaneous power. There is none of the wind-up, no climbing a torque curve as in a gasoline-powered car. All the power is right there, whenever you want it (and can find hydrogen). Since it uses an electric motor, there is no need for a transmission. It's like being directly connected to a silent but powerful source of energy. It feels effortless: a pleasant feeling of freedom. Furthermore, since you know you are only leaving behind a trail of water vapor, you feel downright virtuous.
Because our test track is over 150 miles from home, however, we had to tow the Honda to the facility. Once there the front-drive FCX delivered a rather pokey 13 seconds from zero to 60 mph. Despite that ultimately slow acceleration number, the FCX delivered a strong 0-30-mph time (3.7 seconds) and had plenty of acceleration for brisk around-town driving. On the highway, it easily cruised at 70 mph and offers a top speed of 93 mph.
Our test driver found the two-door car's handling to be poor, reaching a slalom speed of only 60.4 mph. This could be because of the added weight of the fuel-cell powertrain, which pushes it up to a hefty 3713 pounds. The brake pedal provided plenty of reliable feedback, and stopping distances were average at 135 feet from 60 to 0 mph.
A very enjoyable car
The EV+ body that is now used by the FCX looks a little odd, but the interior configuration provides a desirable, tall driving position. This requires a significant step up to get inside. If you think to examine the car's configuration, it's apparent there is at least 1 foot of storage space between the bottom of the car and the interior floorboards, space that is used to store the electronics. Creating a vehicle with these dimensions could pose a problem to future production fuel-cell cars.
One nice touch is the unusually good legroom and visibility for rear-seat passengers. The seats throughout are very comfortable, and all interior features are of the usual high quality expected of Honda. It was a smart move to make this cutting-edge car so ordinary and pleasing in every other way.
Our test vehicle had a navigation system, a very useful feature when searching for out-of-the-way hydrogen fuel stations. The nav screen moves up to reveal a CD player beneath and a slot for memory cards. All the climate controls are simple and straightforward. We particularly enjoyed the attractive and cool blue gauges that flicker constantly to show the inner workings of the fuel-cell system. Our eyes were often drawn to the "miles to empty" gauge, which seem oddly low-tech given its extremely important role.
But what of safety?
Many people who rode in the fuel-cell car were concerned about the rear-positioned hydrogen tank, perhaps because of the horrific images of the Hindenburg explosion in 1937. However, Honda said the fuel tank in the FCX has been extensively tested — once it was crash tested in a collision with a train — and it never ruptured. Furthermore, hydrogen is extremely light and, if a leak occurred, the vapor would rapidly rise and quickly dissipate. This is actually safer than a normal car which, if it leaked would leave pools of flammable gasoline under it.
Where does this road lead?
Honda admitted that the future of fuel-cell cars is uncertain and there is no guarantee that this type of car will ever make a practical contribution to meeting our transportation needs. The platinum fuel-cell stack is expensive and very labor-intensive to assemble. Notwithstanding, Honda has set an admirable example by putting 15 FCXs on the road, mainly with public agencies in California, and has another five cars that are used for Honda's internal fleet.
Honda is also pressing forward with plans to introduce a production fuel-cell vehicle slated to go on sale in two years. The cost of this production vehicle, currently named the FCX Concept, has not yet been set or even estimated. And clearly, to make it practical would require the completion of California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's Hydrogen Highway. This, and many other things about hydrogen fuel-cell cars, are still very much in the planning — and dreaming — phase.
Then one Sunday, the odd-looking, zero-emissions 2005 Honda FCX was delivered to my house. It sat there while I wrestled with how to fill it up with hydrogen on the weekend. I began to view it as a giant pain, an albatross that would never be more than a footnote in the history of transportation.
But then I drove it.
After about 20 seconds of beeps, whirs and strange groans, the display panel flashed "Ready to Drive." I slid it into gear and pulled onto the hydrogen highway. Within a mile, I knew what I would say in my review: Make the cost of this car competitive, make hydrogen stations readily available, and I'd be content to drive one of these babies from here on out.
But huge questions loom: Can you manufacture hydrogen inexpensively? Can you ship and store it safely? Answers to those questions are being hotly investigated by many more qualified minds than mine. And they are questions that will need to be answered before Honda's production vehicle, to be released in two years, can be more than just a pilot program. All I can tell you about is how it feels to drive this car. Cut back to me driving the FCX and push in for a tight shot revealing a smile on my face.
Are fuel cells coming of age?
The first usable fuel-cell cars began to appear on the roads in 2002, but they were limited in range and wildly expensive. The 2003 Honda FCX was the first hydrogen-powered fuel-cell car to be certified by the California Air Resources Board (CARB) and the U.S. EPA in July 2002. The 2005 FCX received a Zero-Emission Vehicle (ZEV) rating by CARB and an EPA Tier-2 Bin 1 rating, the lowest possible national emissions rating.
The 2005 FCX — which uses the same body as the Honda EV+ electric car — contains the first Honda-produced fuel-cell stack. It's quicker, has a longer range and gets better fuel-efficiency than earlier prototypes that lacked this power plant. Honda said the two primary goals achieved by the technology in this car were "to increase the fuel cell's environmental adaptability to a wide range of climates, and to make mass production more viable."
This second-generation FCX is a prototype worth more than a million dollars. It is capable of starting at temperatures as low as minus-4-degrees Fahrenheit and has a range of about 190 miles on a tank of hydrogen. The Honda Fuel Cell Stack PEMFC (Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell) delivers 107 horsepower via an electric motor. Additionally, it uses a regenerative braking system similar to what is used in hybrid cars, which converts the kinetic energy produced by the brakes into electrical energy and stores it in an ultra capacitor (no, not the "flux capacitor," from Back to the Future) which functions a bit like a battery. As a result, fuel economy is equivalent to a car getting an EPA city/highway rating of 62/51 miles per gallon of gas (57 mpg combined).
Fuel cell — a simple concept
The theory behind fuel-cell cars is simple enough. Hydrogen, which is stored under pressure in a tank, is mixed with oxygen from the air to produce an electrochemical reaction. It's a bit like having a battery that never goes dead as long as you keep adding hydrogen. Once the electrical power is generated, it can be used to turn a motor that propels the car. Power delivery is augmented by regenerative braking. In essence, driving a fuel-cell car is very similar to driving an electric car — except a fuel-cell car has a tailpipe from which water vapor is the only emission.
While development of the fuel-cell stack seems to have taken a big step forward, the infrastructure supporting the car is lagging severely behind. When we needed a refill for our test car, we had to take the FCX back to Honda's Torrance headquarters. The next time we were nearing empty, Honda arranged a fill-up only three blocks away from Edmunds.com's offices at the City of Santa Monica department of public works. While 25 hydrogen stations are listed as being within 100 miles of Los Angeles, only one is open to the public. The others are either still in the planning phase or are for private vehicle fleets.
Fill 'er up (with hydrogen)
The refueling process was similar to that used to refill compressed natural gas vehicles (CNG) except that, due to the extreme volatility of hydrogen, a ground connector is attached. The ground connection also reads information about the car's operation, including the temperature of the tank, so the maximum amount of hydrogen can be pumped into it.
The Department of Energy sets a benchmark price for hydrogen at $5 per kilogram (a kilogram is roughly equivalent to a gallon of gasoline). However, depending on how hydrogen is manufactured — often it is made as a byproduct of natural gas refinement — the price could vary significantly. Currently, there are stations selling hydrogen for as little as $3.60 a kilogram. Given that the fuel economy of the FCX is nearly twice that of a typical gas car, this makes the price per mile driven more economical.
Honda is planning a Home Energy Station (HES), an integrated module that runs off a household's natural-gas supply to generate hydrogen vehicle fuel. The HES could also provide heat and electricity back to the house.
Unique driving experience
Step on the accelerator of the FCX and you get instantaneous power. There is none of the wind-up, no climbing a torque curve as in a gasoline-powered car. All the power is right there, whenever you want it (and can find hydrogen). Since it uses an electric motor, there is no need for a transmission. It's like being directly connected to a silent but powerful source of energy. It feels effortless: a pleasant feeling of freedom. Furthermore, since you know you are only leaving behind a trail of water vapor, you feel downright virtuous.
Because our test track is over 150 miles from home, however, we had to tow the Honda to the facility. Once there the front-drive FCX delivered a rather pokey 13 seconds from zero to 60 mph. Despite that ultimately slow acceleration number, the FCX delivered a strong 0-30-mph time (3.7 seconds) and had plenty of acceleration for brisk around-town driving. On the highway, it easily cruised at 70 mph and offers a top speed of 93 mph.
Our test driver found the two-door car's handling to be poor, reaching a slalom speed of only 60.4 mph. This could be because of the added weight of the fuel-cell powertrain, which pushes it up to a hefty 3713 pounds. The brake pedal provided plenty of reliable feedback, and stopping distances were average at 135 feet from 60 to 0 mph.
A very enjoyable car
The EV+ body that is now used by the FCX looks a little odd, but the interior configuration provides a desirable, tall driving position. This requires a significant step up to get inside. If you think to examine the car's configuration, it's apparent there is at least 1 foot of storage space between the bottom of the car and the interior floorboards, space that is used to store the electronics. Creating a vehicle with these dimensions could pose a problem to future production fuel-cell cars.
One nice touch is the unusually good legroom and visibility for rear-seat passengers. The seats throughout are very comfortable, and all interior features are of the usual high quality expected of Honda. It was a smart move to make this cutting-edge car so ordinary and pleasing in every other way.
Our test vehicle had a navigation system, a very useful feature when searching for out-of-the-way hydrogen fuel stations. The nav screen moves up to reveal a CD player beneath and a slot for memory cards. All the climate controls are simple and straightforward. We particularly enjoyed the attractive and cool blue gauges that flicker constantly to show the inner workings of the fuel-cell system. Our eyes were often drawn to the "miles to empty" gauge, which seem oddly low-tech given its extremely important role.
But what of safety?
Many people who rode in the fuel-cell car were concerned about the rear-positioned hydrogen tank, perhaps because of the horrific images of the Hindenburg explosion in 1937. However, Honda said the fuel tank in the FCX has been extensively tested — once it was crash tested in a collision with a train — and it never ruptured. Furthermore, hydrogen is extremely light and, if a leak occurred, the vapor would rapidly rise and quickly dissipate. This is actually safer than a normal car which, if it leaked would leave pools of flammable gasoline under it.
Where does this road lead?
Honda admitted that the future of fuel-cell cars is uncertain and there is no guarantee that this type of car will ever make a practical contribution to meeting our transportation needs. The platinum fuel-cell stack is expensive and very labor-intensive to assemble. Notwithstanding, Honda has set an admirable example by putting 15 FCXs on the road, mainly with public agencies in California, and has another five cars that are used for Honda's internal fleet.
Honda is also pressing forward with plans to introduce a production fuel-cell vehicle slated to go on sale in two years. The cost of this production vehicle, currently named the FCX Concept, has not yet been set or even estimated. And clearly, to make it practical would require the completion of California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's Hydrogen Highway. This, and many other things about hydrogen fuel-cell cars, are still very much in the planning — and dreaming — phase.
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