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To Take On Toyota, Honda Hones New Technologies, Including FCX Clarity Hydrogen Car. (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121356401528375665.html?mod=todays_us_nonsub_marketplace)

http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/501/2010_Honda_FCX.jpgJohn Murphy - WSJ - June 16, 2008

Honda Motor Co. Chief Executive Takeo Fukui hates to lose. But that's just what the former racing-team manager has had to accept as Toyota Motor Corp.'s popular Prius hybrid has outsold Honda's hybrid vehicles nearly four to one this decade, establishing Toyota as the industry leader in eco-friendly vehicles.

Now 63-year-old Mr. Fukui, who has led the company for five years, is charting Honda Motor's efforts to be the greenest of the world's auto makers.

As soaring gasoline prices boost demand for more fuel-efficient vehicles, the global auto giants are battling to define the next generation of automobiles with a blitz of eco-friendly vehicle launches, new technologies and campaigns to show off their green credentials.

Monday at a ceremony in Japan, Mr. Fukui is scheduled to roll out a new hydrogen-powered fuel-cell vehicle, the FCX Clarity, one of the world's most-advanced green vehicles, which Honda hopes will bring fuel-cell technology into the mainstream.

The vehicle, powered with electricity produced by combining hydrogen and oxygen in batterylike fuel cells, will be available for lease in California this summer. By 2010, Honda aims to deliver about 200 of these vehicles, making it the largest effort to market fuel-cell vehicles to date... http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121356401528375665.html?mod=todays_us_nonsub_marketplace

The company hasn't announced the price of the new car, except to say it will be "affordable," so it isn't clear how it will stack up against Toyota's hybrid.I'm all for not-gas solutions, but what exactly is "affordable". Last price tag I saw on Fuel Cell prototypes was north of 100k. Easier to buy a Tesla.

Guess "affordable" for me would be 30k with a fair option kit.

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I'm all for not-gas solutions, but what exactly is "affordable". Last price tag I saw on Fuel Cell prototypes was north of 100k. Easier to buy a Tesla.

Guess "affordable" for me would be 30k with a fair option kit.

11011011

If Fuel Cell vehicles are selling for $100,000 than that would be a bargain because Joseph Romm, author of The Hype about Hydrogen, has stated that they cost $1,000,000. He said this about 2 years ago so perhaps that cost has gone down. I did read somewhere that the cost was halved so I guess they could be sold for $500,000 now.

I would suppose the true price of $1,000,000 is why the Clarity can only be leased and not purchased.

Hydrogen is a total loser for high-speed terrestrial vehicles because of its low volumetric energy density. Cars would need to be rolling fuel tanks to get a decent range, and that cuts way down on aerodynamic efficiency.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_density

Batteries suck too, but that's not the subject here.

Another challenge with using hydrogen is is its small physical size makes it difficult to keep it from leaking from its storage and piping systems. It can even diffuse slowly through a thin sheet of metal.