During a visit to Detroit last week, President Donald Trump all but promised the auto industry his administration will roll back the tough 54.5 mpg federal mileage standard set to go into effect in 2025.
Yet while some manufacturers, especially Detroit’s Big Three, issued a collective sigh of relief, others insisted such a move wouldn’t make much, if any, difference in their long-term plans. That includes Honda, whose CEO recently emphasized his commitment to generating two-thirds of the maker’s sales from electrified powertrains by 2030.
“Electric” doesn’t necessarily mean “battery,” however, and Honda has become one of the biggest proponents of fuel-cell technology, the Japanese maker recently becoming the third manufacturer to start marketing a hydrogen-powered car in the U.S. market.
This past week, it gave TheDetroitBureau.com a chance to put the new Honda Clarity FCV through its paces traversing the mountainous terrain east of Santa Barbara, California.
For those not familiar with fuel-cells, the technology is surprisingly old, first being demonstrated almost 175 years ago. But it was only during the Apollo moon mission that it found practical application, providing power for the lunar capsules.
At its most basic, a fuel cell stack combines hydrogen with oxygen from the air, using a permeable membrane to convert the two gases into water vapor. In the process, an electron is pulled from each hydrogen atom, energy that is then used to run an electric motor. In other words, the fuel-cell system replaces a battery. In fact, some experts like to refer to fuel-cell systems as “refillable batteries.”
That’s one of the key advantages, as we found out, moments after leaving the El Encanto resort Honda used as the base for the Clarity FCV drive. A couple miles away, we pulled into a seemingly regular service station, but over in one corner, a hydrogen pump had been installed – one of about 26 now operating in the Golden State.
Where it can take the better part of a day to recharge a battery, it takes less than five minutes to refill a hydrogen tank. The nozzle is a bit different from what a gasoline or diesel vehicle uses. It has a locking connector to ensure no leaks, and a wireless communications system between pump and car makes sure the vehicle gets a full tank. Releasing the handgrip and completing the transaction, we were ready to go in minutes.
In the brief moments we were parked and refueling, we had a chance to take a closer look at the new Clarity. With its unique chassis, it will serve as the base for three different Honda powertrain packages, the FCV going hydrogen, the Electric getting an 80-mile battery pack, and the Clarity Plug-in Hybrid equipped with a downsized battery pack capable of delivering 40 miles per charge before firing up the vehicle’s small internal combustion engine.
Read more of the original article at The Detroit Bureau.
