Peter Parka

Honda makes first hydrogen cars
Japanese car manufacturer Honda has begun the first commercial production of a zero-emission, hydrogen fuel-cell powered vehicle.
The four-seater, called FCX Clarity, runs on hydrogen and electricity, emitting only water vapour.
Honda claims the vehicle offers three times better fuel efficiency than a traditional, gasoline-powered car.
Honda plans to produce 200 of the cars, which are initially only available to lease, over the next three years.
One of the biggest obstacles standing in the way of wider adoption of fuel cell vehicles is the lack of hydrogen fuelling stations.




The first five customers are all based in southern California because of the proximity of hydrogen fuelling stations, Honda said.
US actress Jamie Lee Curtis will be among the first to take delivery of the vehicle, the firm added.
'Monumental step'
The car will initially be available for lease in California starting in July, and then in Japan later this year.
"This is an important day in the history of fuel-cell vehicle technology and a monumental step closer to the day when fuel cell cars will be part of the mainstream," said John Mendel, executive vice president of American Honda.
Honda says it expects to lease a few dozen units in the US and Japan in 2008, and about 200 units within three years.
It said the cost of the car, on a three-year lease, would be $600 (£300) a month.
Booming demand
Meanwhile, rival Toyota said it was struggling to keep up with booming demand for hybrid vehicles because it is unable to make enough batteries.
Hybrid vehicles, such as Toyota's top-selling Prius, switch between a petrol engine and electric motor.
Toyota Motor Corp's executive vice president, Takeshi Uchiyamada told the Associated Press that new battery production lines can't be added until next year.
"Hybrids are selling so well we are doing all we can to increase production," he said. "We need new lines."




Story from BBC NEWS:

__________________

Zorak

Ah hyrdogen
It worked out ok on the Hindenburg

lol, seriously though, it's about time - and it would be Honda who spearheaded it.

__________________
"...I will die alone, upside down, in a pub toilet."


Hey hey, My my, Rock and Roll can never die.

Everything is just a Mistero Buffo

Mikewastaken

A little bit different than the honda car, but if you want, we could use propane or methane?

Good, Honda is biting the bullet, they are probably going to lose money, but if they push hard enough we could be seeing cars like this in the next 5-10 years

triglad

Yeah its all good . . . i still wouldn't trust them just yet . . . storing hydrogen is a tricky business!!

__________________
I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones. - Albert Einstein

Mikewastaken

So are a lot of other things and we still do them, the tanks will probably be made of some strong 3 inch steel or something, so it won't break open or explode, it'll just come through the car and cut you in half.

Much better

Kaziel

I like petrol cars. >.> Hydrogen sounds weird to me. Like going into a station and saying "I'm filling up my hydrogen!" It's like wtf. o.o

Mikewastaken

I drive cars, and my boss has diesel trucks, and I always ask "Do you want me to put gas in it?" and he says "Yeah, make sure you put diesel"


I KNOWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW.............

triglad

Yeah, but hydrogen is very volatile, i don't like working with it in a lab when its as a compressed gas . . . so i'll be fucked if i'm goin to sit on a tank of liquid hydrogen that at the other end of a tube is been set on fire!!

__________________
I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones. - Albert Einstein

Mikewastaken

What's the difference between that and gasoline, both have a tendency to explode. Just hydrogen is a lot easier.

If all of a sudden we switched over to hydrogen, you would notice an amazing increase in health, decrease in pollution and the world would just be a cleaner place.

P.S. I'm not a hippy, I own a bunch a cars that suck a lot of gas

triglad

Except have you ever tried to make petrol explode?? you can actually put a match out in a pool of petrol, its only dangerous when it is a vapour and mixes with air in the region of 2-8% v/v if i remeber right, any more or less and it doesn't! at the temp that hydrogen needs to be stored for use in a car it would be cold enough to liquify atmospheric oxygen which would spontaneously explode. . . . so it really does need to be very very safe. And the energy content of hydrogen is about 3x that of petrol i think . . . so the bang wouldn't be small!!

__________________
I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones. - Albert Einstein

Mikewastaken

Well thank god GM isn't building it!

triglad

Ha, a very good point!!

__________________
I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones. - Albert Einstein