Honda begins sales of fuel cell car

Honda Motor has begun to sell its all-new fuel cell vehicle (FCV) in Japan, the Clarity Fuel Cell; its first-year sales target is 200, mainly through lease sales mainly to local government bodies or businesses Honda has already been working with to popularise FCVs. Making the fuel cell powertrain more compact using original Honda technologies and fitting it entirely under the hood of the car enabled Honda to create an FCV to carry five passengers rather than the usual four. Combined with the improved
March 11, 2016 Read time: 2 mins
1683 Honda Motor has begun to sell its all-new fuel cell vehicle (FCV) in Japan, the Clarity Fuel Cell; its first-year sales target is 200, mainly through lease sales mainly to local government bodies or businesses Honda has already been working with to popularise FCVs.

Making the fuel cell powertrain more compact using original Honda technologies and fitting it entirely under the hood of the car enabled Honda to create an FCV to carry five passengers rather than the usual four.

Combined with the improved efficiency of the powertrain and a reduced energy requirement for driving, a 70 MPa high-pressure hydrogen storage tank installed in the vehicle provides a cruising range of approximately 750 km (470 miles), an increase of approximately 30 per cent compared to the previous FCV model, says Honda. The company also claims that the hydrogen tank can be refilled in approximately three minutes, an ease of use equivalent to that of a gasoline-powered vehicle.

During the first year of sales, Honda will collect information about the vehicle in use before beginning sales to individual customers.

Honda says it is planning to introduce the Clarity Fuel Cell to Europe and the US before the end of 2016.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • EVs & smart cities: Tritium keeps things moving
    December 3, 2018
    Electric vehicles are widely expected to play a major role in the smarter, cleaner cities of the future. Paul Sernia explains why – and looks at the place of ultra-rapid chargers as part of a versatile public infrastructure Electric vehicles (EVs) are widely expected to play a major role in the smarter, cleaner cities of the future. With no dirty tailpipe, EVs can help improve the polluted air of inner cities. And when deployed as widely shared assets – through car clubs, ride-sharing services and taxi
    Read More
  • EU to boost long distance travel for fuel cell cars
    December 8, 2014
    The EU's TEN-T programme will invest almost US$4.3 million in studies preparing a European network of hydrogen infrastructure for transport. The network is expected to enhance the use of fuel cell vehicles in Europe leading to cuts in overall transport emissions. The uptake of fuel cell cars, zero emission vehicles that run on electricity powered by hydrogen, depends on the availability of refuelling infrastructure on the main European roads. This project is the second part of a larger action aiming
    Read More
  • Scania to test electric trucks and buses in real-life conditions
    June 9, 2015
    In February 2016, Scania will begin testing electric trucks as part of the Swedish Gävle Electric Road project, which will demonstrate and evaluate conductive technology, using electric transmission through overhead lines above vehicles equipped with a pantograph power collector. The Swedish Transport Administration has now approved support for the project, which is in line with the Government’s goal of an energy-efficient and fossil-free vehicle fleet by 2030. The project consists of about US$9.2 millio
    Read More
  • Battery vehicle ‘now viable for very long distances’
    June 23, 2016
    The Tesla 3 gets nearly double the range of the Nissan Leaf by using nearly double the amount of battery but engineers are using a multitude of work rounds to do better: aerodynamics, light-weighting even including structural electronics where dumb structure is replaced by supercapacitors or solid state batteries. Add more efficient motors and powertrain, says Dr Peter Harrop, chairman of IDTechEx Research in its report Industrial and Commercial Electric Vehicles on Land 2016-2026. He goes on to say that
    Read More

Highlighted Content