| rocky |
http://www.vtec.net/news/news-item?news_item_id=722358
Honda Debuts All-New FCX Clarity Advanced Fuel Cell Vehicle
Date: November 14, 2007 17:23
Submitted by: Jeff
Source: Honda Press Release
Credibility Rating: Not Specified
Dynamic styling and performance herald major advances for fuel cell vehicles; limited marketing to begin next summer
11/14/2007 - LOS ANGELES, -
Honda today unveiled the FCX Clarity fuel cell vehicle at the Los Angeles Auto Show, announcing plans to begin limited retail marketing of the vehicle in summer 2008.
The FCX Clarity is a next-generation, zero-emissions, hydrogen-powered fuel cell vehicle based on the entirely-new Honda V Flow fuel cell platform, and powered by the highly compact, efficient and powerful Honda V Flow fuel cell stack. Featuring tremendous improvements to driving range, power, weight and efficiency - and boasting a low-slung, dynamic and sophisticated appearance, previously unachievable in a fuel cell vehicle - the FCX Clarity marks the significant progress Honda continues to make in advancing the real-world performance and appeal of the hydrogen-powered fuel cell car.
"The FCX Clarity is a shining symbol of the progress we've made with fuel cell vehicles and of our belief in the promise of this technology," said Tetsuo Iwamura, American Honda president and CEO. "Step by step, with continuous effort, commitment and focus, we are working to overcome obstacles to the mass-market potential of zero-emissions hydrogen fuel cell automobiles."
American Honda plans to lease the FCX Clarity to a limited number of retail consumers in Southern California with the first deliveries taking place in summer 2008.
Full details of the lease program will be set closer to launch, but current plans call for a three-year lease term with a price of $600 per month, including maintenance and collision insurance. American Honda is also developing a service infrastructure that provides customers with the best balance of convenience and the highest quality of service. When the FCX Clarity requires periodic maintenance, customers will simply schedule a visit with their local Honda dealer. American Honda will transport the vehicle to their fuel cell service facility, located in the greater Los Angeles area, where all required work will be performed. At the completion of the work, the customer will pick up their car from the dealer.
How It Works
The FCX Clarity utilizes Honda's V Flow stack in combination with a new compact and efficient lithium ion battery pack and a single hydrogen storage tank to power the vehicle's electric drive motor. The fuel cell stack operates as the vehicle's main power source. Hydrogen combines with atmospheric oxygen in the fuel cell stack, where chemical energy from the reaction is converted into electric power used to propel the vehicle. Additional energy captured through regenerative braking and deceleration is stored in the lithium ion battery pack, and used to supplement power from the fuel cell, when needed. The vehicle's only emission is water.
Honda V Flow Fuel Cell Platform
The FCX Clarity's revolutionary new V Flow platform packages the ultra-compact, lightweight and powerful Honda V Flow fuel cell stack (65 percent smaller than the previous Honda FC stack) in the vehicle's center tunnel, between the two front seats. Taking advantage of a completely new cell configuration, the vertically-oriented stack achieves an output of 100 kilowatts (kW) (versus 86kW in the current Honda FC stack) with a 50 percent increase in output density by volume (67 percent by mass). Its compact size allows for a more spacious interior and more efficient packaging of other powertrain components, which would otherwise be unattainable in a sleek, low-slung sedan.
The FCX Clarity boasts numerous other significant advances in the performance and packaging of Honda fuel cell technology, compared to the current-generation FCX. These include1:
* a 20-percent increase in fuel economy - to the approximate equivalent of 68 mpg2 combined fuel economy (about 2-3 times the fuel economy of a gasoline-powered car, and 1.5 times that of a gasoline-electric hybrid vehicle, of comparable size and performance);
* a 30-percent increase in vehicle range - to 270 miles;
* a 25-percent improvement in power-to-weight ratio, in part from an approximate 400-pound reduction in the fuel cell powertrain weight, for superior performance and efficiency despite a substantial increase in overall vehicle size;
* a 45-percent reduction in the size of the fuel cell powertrain - nearly equivalent, in terms of volume, to a modern gas-electric hybrid powertrain;
* an advanced new lithium-ion battery pack that is 40 percent lighter and 50 percent smaller than the current-generation FCX's ultra-capacitor; and
* a single 5,000-psi hydrogen storage tank with 10 percent additional hydrogen capacity than the previous model.
FCX Clarity Design
More than just a fuel cell vehicle - the FCX Clarity speaks to Honda's vision of the future of automobile design and performance freed from the constraints of conventional powertrain technologies. The FCX Clarity's four-door sedan platform features a short-nose body and spacious cabin with comfortable accommodations for four people and their luggage. Major powertrain components - including the electric motor, fuel cell stack, battery pack and hydrogen tank - have been made more compact and are distributed throughout the vehicle to further optimize space, comfort and total vehicle performance.
Advanced Materials and Components
In keeping with its theme as an environmentally-advanced automobile, the FCX Clarity features seat upholstery and door linings made from Honda Bio-Fabric - a newly-developed, plant-based material that offers CO2 reductions as an alternative to traditional interior materials, along with outstanding durability and resistance to wear, stretching, and damage from sunlight.
Designed to appeal to forward-thinking customers seeking the ultimate in zero-emissions, alternative-fuel vehicle performance, the FCX Clarity is also equipped with a full compliment of advanced safety, comfort and convenience features, including a state-of-the-art navigation system with hydrogen station locations, backup camera, premium audio, climate-controlled seats and Bluetooth™ connectivity.
Other improvements, such as shift-by-wire, electric power steering (EPS), and a newly-designed instrument panel with an easy-to-read hydrogen fuel-consumption display, further improve its customer appeal and ease of operation.
CO2 Emissions
The FCX Clarity's only emission is water. Carbon Dioxide (CO2) emissions come only from the production of hydrogen, which varies by source; however, well-to-wheel CO2 emissions using hydrogen reformed from natural gas - the most widely used method of production today - are less than half that of a conventional gasoline vehicle. With the production of hydrogen from water by electrolysis, CO2 emissions can be further reduced and ultimately approach zero if the electricity used for electrolysis is generated using solar, wind, water or nuclear power.
Honda has developed its own solar cells, with half of the CO2 emissions in the production stage compared to conventional crystalline silicon cells; and has begun mass-production and retail sales of this technology in Japan for both commercial and residential use.
Fuel Cell Leadership
Based on its vision of, "Blue Skies for our Children", Honda has worked for forty years at reducing the environmental impact of the automobile, including efforts to reduce emissions, boost fuel efficiency and, now, many industry-leading efforts to advance the hydrogen fuel cell vehicle - a technology and fuel that Honda believes may hold the ultimate promise for a clean and sustainable transportation future. Honda's pioneering achievements in this area include the first EPA and CARB certification of a fuel cell vehicle (2002); the first lease of a fuel cell vehicle (2002); the first fuel cell vehicle to receive an EPA fuel economy rating (2002); the first cold-weather customer (2004); the first and still only individual retail customers (2005, 2007); and the first and still only fuel cell vehicle to be eligible for a federal tax credit.
About HondaHonda is America's most fuel-efficient car company and a leader in the development of leading-edge technologies to improve fuel efficiency and reduce CO2 emissions, including advanced gasoline engines, gasoline-electric hybrids, natural gas-powered engines, and hydrogen fuel cells. Founded in Japan in 1948, Honda began operations in the U.S. in 1959 with the establishment of American Honda Motor Co., Inc., Honda's first overseas subsidiary. Honda began U.S. production3 of motorcycles in 1979 and automobiles in 1982. The company has invested more than $9 billion in its North American operations with 14 major manufacturing facilities, employment of more than 35,000 associates, and annual purchases of more than $17.6 billion in parts and materials from suppliers in North America.
A consumer Web site for the FCX is available at fcx.honda.com. More information about Honda's environmental initiatives and products can be found in the company's annual North American Environmental Report which can be downloaded at www.honda.com.
1 Specifications may change prior to the certification and sales of production units. 2 Honda in-house calculation 3 Using domestic and globally sourced parts |
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| CalPi |
| WOOHOOOO!!! I JUST Saw an add for the car! too cool! |
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| N_Jay |
IMHO
Cool toy . . . . .
. . . . .Stupid Car! |
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| Nathan_P |
quote:
Originally posted by N_Jay
IMHO
Cool toy . . . . .
. . . . .Stupid Car!
Why is it a stupid car? |
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| N_Jay |
quote:
Originally posted by Nathan_P
Why is it a stupid car?
Where is the hydrogen going to come from? |
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| dgipalo |
quote:
Originally posted by N_Jay
Where is the hydrogen going to come from?
Honda's leasing/selling the reformer for home installation. Granted, without a reliable refueling infrastructure, the car is a limited-use fashion statement, but then so is every new technology prior to wide adoption. Honda does seem to have the system side of it worked out, as the reformer/compressor is a part of the deal. In a lot of ways, not much worse than the CNG cars Honda is selling (Civic, for example). The 250+ mile range gets the car useable for virtually any 'local' use - it's long trips to areas where the H2 sources are unavailable that become problematic.
Now, the debate on whether NG is a viable road fuel is another thing altogether; but for the FCX, it's largely irrelevant; the reformer technology is what determines the source fuel for generating the H2. |
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| iglesias |
quote:
Originally posted by dgipalo
Honda's leasing/selling the reformer for home installation. Granted, without a reliable refueling infrastructure, the car is a limited-use fashion statement, but then so is every new technology prior to wide adoption. Honda does seem to have the system side of it worked out, as the reformer/compressor is a part of the deal. In a lot of ways, not much worse than the CNG cars Honda is selling (Civic, for example). The 250+ mile range gets the car useable for virtually any 'local' use - it's long trips to areas where the H2 sources are unavailable that become problematic.
Now, the debate on whether NG is a viable road fuel is another thing altogether; but for the FCX, it's largely irrelevant; the reformer technology is what determines the source fuel for generating the H2.
Are you sure about that? The FCX web page mentions that you have to live in Torrence, Santa Monica, or Irvine areas to lease one, which implies that you have to be able to get to the refueling station in those cities to refuel it. |
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| rocky |
Honda FCX Clarity: Car of the century?
Last Updated: 12:01am GMT 17/11/2007
In another part of the world, Honda launched what Andrew English thinks is the most significant car of the year, the FCX Clarity
Honda did two significant things this week. The first was to hire Ross Brawn, the mastermind behind Michael Schumacher's Ferrari success, for its sickly F1 team. The second was to launch perhaps the most important car of this century.
The FCX Clarity (né FCX Concept) is the world's first production hydrogen fuel-cell vehicle. It will be leased out next summer to selected customers in Los Angeles. Apart from the ability to afford the $600 (£300) monthly payments over the three-year lease period, they will have to live near one of the five hydrogen filling stations in the greater LA/Orange County area and be willing to drive the FCX every day.
"We are looking for real people and a range of driving patterns," says Ben Knight, Honda's vice president of research and development in the US. The FCX waiting list is said to be long and to contain many celebrities wanting to nail their colours to the fuel-cell mast.
Some of you might wonder what all the fuss is about. After all, Honda leased out its previous fuel-cell model (also called FCX) for $500 a month including fuel, to government institutions in Japan and LA. We drove the model leased to LA's City Hall four years ago (Motoring, June 21 2003). We have also driven its successor, the FCX Concept, which first appeared at the Tokyo show two years ago and forms the basis of this car (Motoring, November 25 2006 and July 7 2007).
Apart from forking out 100 bucks more per month and paying for their own fuel at about $4.99 per kilogram (the FCX is said to deliver an energy equivalent fuel consumption of about 81 imperial mpg), FCX Clarity customers will get to drive one of the finest looking advanced concepts on the planet. Sadly there are no plans to bring it to Europe at present as there is no significant hydrogen refuelling infrastructure over here.
Senior chief engineer Sachito Fujimoto has achieved the amazing feat of reducing the kerb weight from the carbon-fibre bodied FCX Concept's 1,680kg to the steel-bodied production car's 1,625kg. His team has also tweaked the electric motor to produce 134hp (100kW) - the Concept gave 127hp (95kW). The range is 270 miles, with a top speed of 100mph and 0-60mph in 10 seconds.
Honda claims the entire driveline of fuel cell, motor, humidifier, inverter, 4.01kg (171-litre) hydrogen tank and lithium-ion battery pack is 45 per cent smaller than before, and no bigger than that of a full hybrid. Its V-flow fuel cell remains largely untouched, although more detail was revealed about the stamped metal separators, which divide the electricity-generating cells from each other and carry air, hydrogen and coolant through the cell. They are stamped with special wavy indentations, which direct the hydrogen and air over a greater distance as they pass through. This also reduces the need for cooling every cell individually and as a result the length of the cell has been cut by 20-30 per cent.
"When you drive the FCX Clarity in town, it is such a fun car," says Fujimoto. "It's the kind of car you want to drive more, but the only emission is water. This is a car to create history for the next 100 years." We managed to get behind the wheel briefly this week. On the road, the noise reduction improvements are immediately apparent. Compressor whine is reduced to below that of the air-conditioning. You can feel the extra kick of the motor, too, particularly in fast getaways. The bio-fabric interior is less nasty than in the concept but we're still not sure whether Californians will embrace this car. We are conducting a more in-depth drive as you read this and will give a detailed report in next week's Motoring.
Honda FCX Clarity
The cockpit heralds a driving revolution
All the testing for US homologation has been done, including a crash test, and Honda is now waiting for the paperwork to allow it to make the FCX commercially available.
Of course there are still huge problems with hydrogen technology, not least the fuel supply, which is set to improve only slowly. Honda expects about 16 refuelling stations in greater LA by 2010. Its rival GM, whose E-Flex electric driveline can use a fuel cell as a primary energy source, reckons there'll be a few more.
GM's fuel cell commercialisation manager, Britta Gross, says "destination corridors" are the aim. "We could make this happen with 40 refuelling stations at $5 million each in and around LA, and that's coffee and doughnut money." Another problem is that the hydrogen is still steamed out of natural gas, although Honda's Ben Knight says that in well-to-wheels CO2 efficiency terms, the FCX Clarity is on a par with a battery car using electricity generated from burning natural gas (as it mainly is in California) and much better than the same car using out-of-state electricity, which is 54 per cent generated by burning coal.
Honda quoted Eleanor Roosevelt: "The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams." And Anatole France: "To accomplish great things, we must not only act, but also dream; not only plan, but also believe." Former CEO and "Supreme Advisor" to the company, Nobuhiko Kawamoto, did all of those things when he authorised Honda's first research into automotive fuel cells in 1986, even more so when he split the company's F1 budget in two, giving half to the fuel-cell development team. Today he thinks Honda shouldn't be involved in F1 and should be putting all its research funds into the much more important race for the lead in fuel-cells. I think he's right; of the two significant things Honda did this week, the FCX is by far the more important for us all.
Sorry about that, Mr Brawn.
Source The London Telegraph |
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| N_Jay |
NG>>H2 is a dumb idea.
1) NG is not significantly less expensive than oil/gasoline.
2) NG is less plentiful than oil/gasoline.
3) Our NG distribution system has nowhere near the excess capacity to pick up any significant transportation energy load.
4) We are still on fossil fuels.
5) the total energy cycle still releases the same amount of CO2.
Electricity >>H2
Is not much different until you add nuclear and then our electricity distribution system is in even worse shape. |
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| dgipalo |
quote:
Originally posted by iglesias
Are you sure about that? The FCX web page mentions that you have to live in Torrence, Santa Monica, or Irvine areas to lease one, which implies that you have to be able to get to the refueling station in those cities to refuel it.
I'm basing the statement on Temple of VTEC article
If they've backed away from that - oh well. The other issue is availability away from home. |
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