Honda predicts new era for hydrogen fuel cell cars

Honda believes hydrogen substance compartment technology has a relation to play successful the aboriginal of the rider car, erstwhile the ‘battery EV era’ is afloat nether way. 

Honda, on with Toyota and Hyundai, has agelong been a proponent of the hydrogen car, launching the FCX Clarity globally arsenic acold backmost arsenic 2008 and pursuing it up with a 2nd procreation which ran from 2017 to 2022. 

More recently, it has launched a substance compartment mentation of the existent CR-V successful the US and Japan, developed successful concern with General Motors. And now, the marque suggests that FCEV cars could go a mainstay of its planetary line-up. 

Inoue Katsushi, who heads up Honda’s electrification efforts pursuing stints starring the marque successful Europe and China, gave Autocar his imaginativeness for the aboriginal of hydrogen cars: "What I person successful my caput is that the [battery] EV epoch comes first, and the adjacent signifier is substance compartment cars.

"The substance compartment epoch mightiness instrumentality immoderate much time," helium said, suggesting 2040 is much realistic than 2030.

Tellingly, the institution has said that 100% of its car income volition beryllium either battery-electric oregon hydrogen substance compartment by 2040, though has not said what it expects the divided to be. There are nary plans to motorboat hydrogen versions of immoderate cars successful the caller 0 Series household of electrical cars. 

Inoue said dilatory income for the archetypal Clarity exemplary are not a motion that the marketplace volition ne'er beryllium determination for specified a car. "In those days, the infrastructure was not bully enough, and it was an experimental exemplary and the outgo was excessively high,” helium said. “So it's not our lone commercialized ground - but with the commercialized vehicles, the FCEV powertrain is going to beryllium expanded, for sure, but it volition instrumentality immoderate time."

"Our adjacent procreation substance compartment is competitory enough,” helium said, referring to the strategy successful the caller CR-V (below), which volition beryllium elaborate successful the coming months. 

Inoue said the wider roll-out of FCEV cars volition beryllium imaginable erstwhile the infrastructure exists to enactment it, on with the proviso concatenation and marketplace demand, which is wherefore Honda is archetypal focusing its hydrogen efforts connected the commercialized conveyance and concern sectors. 

"Think astir it: the substance compartment concern comes from commercialized vehicles first, past it's coming to rider vehicles,” helium theorises. “The commercialized conveyance concern is going to commencement earlier – we've already started successful China and immoderate different countries – but it comes to rider vehicles later, not now."

Honda has partnered with Isuzu to make a caller FCEV lorry called the Giga Fuel Cell, and precocious began investigating a prototype connected nationalist roads successful the tally up to a planned marketplace motorboat successful 2027.

Honda is besides moving with Mitsubishi and chemic institution Tokuyama Corporation connected a task to make powerfulness stations which tally connected substance cells recovered from vehicles. The nonsubjective of this programme, Honda said, is "to trim the economical load connected customers installing and operating stationary substance compartment systems, which volition lend to the decarbonisation of electrical power".

Honda CEO Toshihiro Mibe concurred: "We deliberation substance compartment exertion tin beryllium applied to heavier vehicles alternatively of conscionable rider cars.”

He said Honda volition usage hydrogen “for larger vehicles oregon non-mobility”, due to the fact that "most of them usage diesel. That tin beryllium replaced by substance cells”. 

Toyota has besides shifted its substance compartment absorption to commercialized vehicles and concern applications, with method main Hiroki Nakajima precocious attributing dilatory request for its Mirai saloon to a fledgling fuelling network: “"We person tried Mirai but not been successful," said Nakajima. "Hydrogen stations are precise fewer and hard to realise, truthful Mirai is smaller [in volume]."

The marque has, however, conscionable launched a substance cell-powered mentation of the Crown luxury saloon successful Japan. 

Hyundai, meanwhile, is seeking to “popularise hydrogen” by 2040, partially by ensuring FCEVs execute terms parity with BEVs by the extremity of this decade.