Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Honda Announces FCX Clarity - hydrogen-powered fuel cell vehicles

With crude oil crossing $130 a barrel, everyone is thinking of alternate fuel. Though hybrid cars are becoming popular, people need more fuel efficient vehicles. Honda Announced FCX Clarity which is a hydrogen-powered fuel cell car. Honda claims that it gives three times the mileage of a petrol car or twice as much as hybrid car.
Honda FCX Clarity emits only water as a by-product. So, they claim that there is no global warming not pollution. These cars will take a long time to become commercially viable as there are no petrol bunks which fill hydrogen. It will take atleast 3-4 years when we will see a few of them on road. Again the car has to be rightly priced, if not, people will never buy it.

There is a nice article about the FCX clarity launch on http://www.autoindustry.co.uk/news/16-06-08
As per this article, they want to introduce the vehicle in the US in the following way

-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 fueling 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.

I think till Clarity becomes commercially available, Toyota Prius will dominate the US market

1 comments:

Pallavi said...

I love the Prius. I sure wish we could do something with our own Reva.. That way we need not look outside.. and bite our nails on the price.. sigh..