June 17, 2008

The first FCX Clarity, Honda’s advanced hydrogen fuel cell car, rolled off the production line yesterday (16th June).  The FCX has been 19 years in development and marks a new dawn for clean, green motoring.

The Clarity emits only water from it’s exhaust pipe, which means no exhaust gases at all.  The electric motor is capable of propelling the FCX to a restricted speed of 100 mph and returns 68 miles per kg of compressed Hydrogen.  1 kg of compressed hydrogen is the equivalent of a gallon of petrol or diesel.

Honda has established a selection process for who is able to lease the groundbreaking motor, which is initially only available in California.  The cars are available on a three year lease plan, which will be charged at $600 per month.  The drivers will, in effect, be used as a test group and will be expected to feed back their experiences of ownership of the Clarity.

At the point of the cars launch there have been over 50,000 applications to lease one, but this has been whittled down to 70 lucky drivers per year for the next three years. The selection process to decide who will be able to lease a car was as follows:-

•Step 1 -- Based on respondents' residential location, the list of potential customers has been narrowed to approximately 500 people living in very close proximity to publicly-accessible hydrogen fuelling stations, including planned or existing stations in Santa Monica, Torrance and Irvine.

•Step 2 -- Customers meeting the geographical criteria will receive an e-mail prompting them to take a customer selection survey if they are serious about wanting to lease an FCX Clarity.

•Step 3 - The survey will qualify customers based on driving patterns, vehicle needs, vehicle storage and financial criteria.

•Step 4 - Customers qualify for the next steps, including an interview with American Honda.

The reason that California was chosen for the first batch of cars to be leased was that it has the best infrastructure to pilot the scheme.  The state has strict emissions regulations and in his election manifesto, Governor Schwarzenegger pledged ‘I am going to encourage the building of a hydrogen highway to take us to the environmental future... I intend to show the world that economic growth and the environment can coexist. And if you want to see it, then come to California....’  To date California has five Hydrogen fuelling stations, with more planned.  Under vision 2010 there are between 150-200 hydrogen stations due to be built, a figure which looks something of a chimera at this point.

The FCX Clarity has a tank range of 280 miles, so taking the vehicle out of California won’t be an option until more fuelling stations are build in other states and nations.

The car is due to be launched in Japan later in the year.

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