Honda is rising in the automotive success ladder slowly but surely. And with the introduction of the first ever hydrogen fuel cell car—the FCX Clarity-- to be made available to the market, the Japanese automaker was able to advance two steps on the ladder ahead of other automakers. The FCX Clarity is scheduled to go into production in 2008.
Despite the advancement that Honda has achieved in the hydrogen technology still it faces lots of problems like for instance there’s no distribution of hydrogen since there are no fuel companies that produce them obviously because there are no vehicles that use them.
The hydrogen technology can be considered on its infancy stage and Honda is trying to spread out the production of hydrogen through its Home Energy Station unit which is designed for use outside the house and transforms natural gas in order to produce hydrogen that can be use as fuel and as a source of energy for home at around 50 percent of the normal cost and with an estimated 30 percent emissions reduction.
Honda the producer of high quality Acura ball joint has recently announced that it will start the limited retail marketing of its FCX Clarity which is a 100-kilowatt (150hp) hydrogen fuel-cell powered compact car in mid 2008. It will be offered first in California but Honda has plans of mass marketing the FCX once it proves viable.
The FCX Clarity is based on the new Honda V Flow fuel cell platform and makes use of a compact, powerful, and efficient fuel cell stack. With its power, weight, efficiency the Clarity may well be branded as Honda’s real-world fuel cell flagship.
Honda has given the FCX Clarity a number of improvements such as:
• 20 percent increase in fuel economy which is approximately around 68mpg 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 similar performance and size).
• Offers a 30 percent increase in the vehicle range or about 270 miles
• 25 percent improvement in power-to-weight ratio that is aside from the projected 400-pound reduction on the fuel cell powertrain weight for added performance and efficiency in spite of the significant increase in the vehicle’s size
• 45 percent reduction in the size of the fuel cell powertrain which is nearly comparable in terms of volume to a modern gas-electric hybrid powertrain
• An advanced type of lithium-ion battery pack that is 50 percent smaller and 40 percent lighter than the FCX’s ultra-capacitor is to be used on the Clarity
• A 5,000-psi hydrogen storage tank with 10 percent additional hydrogen capacity than the previous model will also be added on the Clarity
The other details of the FCX Clarity are to be announced at the launching of the vehicle but the company is already planning for a three-year lease term with a price of $600 per month inclusive of maintenance and collision insurance. To provide customers with a much better service, American Honda will also be developing a service infrastructure that will make sure that customers are given the highest quality of service and convenience that they deserve.
The FCX Clarity would require for periodic maintenance and customers would have to simply take their lease FCX to the nearest Honda dealer and from there the vehicle is to be transported to the fuel service facility located in the greater Los Angeles area where all maintenance work are to be performed. The vehicle will be taken back to the dealer where customers are to pick them up.
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