A decade ago, the alternative fuel talk in the automotive industry centered around hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. They required no gasoline and emitted only water. At the time, fuel cell technology was not very far along, expensive and relatively unstable.
Today marked an historic occasion as Honda unveiled its hydrogen fuel cell based FCX Clarity. The Clarity gets 68 miles per gallon, twice as much as the Accord, and can travel up to 270 miles before needing to refuel. It's not quite ready for prime time, but much closer than you might think.
Honda unveiled the newest in the line of alternative fuel vehicles at this year's LA Auto Show. The Clarity is based on a concept first introduced in 2005. Honda says it plans to lease a small quantity of the fuel cell vehicles to a select few Southern Californians for about $600 a month for three years.
Why such a small sampling? Well, the biggest hurdle car companies have to jump before fuel cell technology can take off, besides cost, is infrastructure. These vehicles still have to be refueled, just like gas-powered cars do. Without fueling stations, a driver in Kentucky, for example, would just have a very large paper weight!
That infrastructure will expand, and as it does Honda and Chevy (who announced a fuel cell powered Equinox SUV earlier this year) will be at the forefront. Both companies are projecting larger quantities of fuel cell vehicles on the market in the next 3-4 years. And Honda is working on a home fueling station that would convert natural gas to hydrogen, which would also help to speed up the adoption process of hydrogen-based cars.
Personally, I see many advantages of moving away from our reliance on oil, and not just environmentally. If everything I've heard and read about fuel cell technology comes to be, it won't be long until we will be almost completely independent from the oil industry (some would say monopoly). Now if they could just perfect that Mr. Fusion!
