Archives

The Sunday Times June 04, 2006

Hydrogen car jumps gun


Hydrogen fuel cell cars could be on the road much earlier than the decade or more so far predicted. Honda has confirmed it plans a production model “in three to four years”.

The car will be based on the FCX Concept, unveiled at the Tokyo Motor Show last year.

The car uses hydrogen to generate electricity that powers a motor. Britain’s first hydrogen filling station opened last year in Hornchurch, Essex, and there is already a fleet of hydrogen buses carrying passengers in London.

Honda engineers are working on a smaller, more efficient fuel cell to increase power and cabin space.

It has also developed a home “energy station” that generates hydrogen from natural gas to allow owners to refuel on their own driveway.

http://www.cleanmpg.com/forums/newthread.php?do=newthread&f=13

hm... one thing for sure, honda does not want the EV to come alive. Maybe that's why they are so lazy on their hybrids. Just kidding ;)

But refueling at home is pretty cool. I wonder if they are going to sell the car with the station as a package. That would be pretty neat.

But refueling at home is pretty cool. I wonder if they are going to sell the car with the station as a package. That would be pretty neat.
That's what they do with "Phill", which is the name of their home refueling system for the natural gas Civic. I imagine a hydrogen version would be about the same with the only difference being the additional chemical/mechanics to do the conversion from natural gas to hydrogen. Home refueling really would fix the biggest complaint about hydrogen cars, which is that there is no hydrogen fueling infrastruction in the country.

... I thought you had to buy Phill separately, at a few $K ?

My question is if there are any carbon-recapturing plans to go with the H2 generator. Otherwise we're effectively oxidizing CH4 to re-use at some % loss later...not good from a net GHG perspective.

But I am not up to speed on H2 generation processes and state-of-the-art.