The Honda FCX

I usually try to focus on San Diego cleantech, but I'm straying to Japan-cleantech in this column to discuss the Honda FCX concept car. The FCX is a hydrogen fuel cell car scheduled to be released by Honda in the U.S. market in 2008. Much sooner than anyone expected to see a mass-produced hydrogen-powered electric car. The car's range is 270 miles per tank of highly pressurized hydrogen, and initial reports from test drivers are all positive. But where will FCX-owners fuel-up? The state of california has been working on this problem for awhile and those of us who live in California can now buy hydrogen at a select number of stations. The California initiative is called the Hydrogen Highway.

The other big news is that FCX owners can generate their own hydrogen at home by connecting their Honda HES III home fueling station to a natural gas source. I suspect that the energy required to create the hydrogen is more than the potential energy of the hydrogen produced, and of course the natural gas used is not a renewable energy source, but I still believe that this is a terrific step toward zero emissions. In a previous column, i discussed NextJoule which claims to have invented a super efficient process for hydrogen generation. Honda + NextJoule!

If you can move me to the top of the Honda-test-drive-volunteer list, i'll buy your first tank of hydrogen.