Green Technology Forum

Next year won’t be the end of the gas-powered vehicle. But Honda Motor Company’s (nyse: HMC - news - people ) release of 500 hydrogen fuel-cell powered FCX Clarity’s in California in 2008 could be the beginning of the end. What makes Honda’s gambit significant is the corresponding release of its Home Energy Station Unit (nyse: UNT - news - people ). Set the unit up in the yard, and it will use natural gas to produce enough Hydrogen to power your FCX Clarity and your home at around 50% of the normal cost and with a 30% reduction in emissions.

Its approach addresses the Catch-22 confronting every alternative-powered vehicle that’s come down the pike: Without the fueling infrastructure, there’s no incentive to buy a hydrogen-powered vehicle, and until hydrogen-powered vehicles become available there’s no incentive to build the infrastructure.

By offering both, Honda could jump start demand for the Clarity, which is based on Honda’s own V Flow fuel cell. The cell stack combines hydrogen with atmospheric gas to form chemical energy, which is then converted into electric power. The road to mass commercialization still stretches ahead, and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles are not the only alternative vying for attention.

Even so, getting the technology rolling on California highways will build important momentum for the fuel cell industry. And California is a strategic proving ground. In addition to $4/gallon gas prices, the state is willing to subsidize fuel cell energy stations to keep pressure off its electrical grid. That may give the Clarity an edge over plug-in hybrids.

source: Forbes

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 24th, 2008 at 5:13 am and is filed under Energy, Environment, News, Transportation. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.