Melbourne Auto Show: Honda FCX Concept

Immediate Release - 2 March 2007

Hydrogen-powered Honda shows a clean, green future

Honda is showing the future of motoring at the Melbourne Motor Show with the unveiling of a hydrogen-powered fuel cell car complete with a hydrogen refuelling station for the home.

The Honda FCX Concept’s hydrogen-powered electric engine eliminates all greenhouse gas emissions and emits only water from the exhaust pipe.

Honda’s Home Energy Station bypasses the need for a hydrogen refuelling infrastructure by allowing drivers of fuel-cell vehicles to refuel at home. The Home Energy Station not only converts the home’s existing natural gas supply into hydrogen, it also supplies heat and electricity for domestic use.

Honda plans to begin limited sales of a totally new fuel cell vehicle based on the FCX Concept model in Japan and the U.S. in 2008.

The FCX Concept features a newly developed compact, high-efficiency Honda FC Stack as well as a low-floor, low-riding, short-nose body. It offers a comfortably large cabin and futuristic styling along with significant improvements in power output and environmental performance.

To meet Honda objectives for significant gains in both environmental and driving performance, the FCX Concept is equipped with a V Flow1 fuel cell platform consisting of a compact, high-efficiency fuel cell stack arranged in an innovative center-tunnel layout. This has allowed designers to create an elegant, low-riding, sedan form that would have been difficult to achieve in a conventional fuel cell vehicle.

Overall, the power plant is about 180kg lighter than Honda’s previous fuel cell concept and about 40 percent smaller in volume. The result is improved energy efficiency and performance along with a more spacious interior.

Low-temperature startup has also been significantly improved, enabling cold-weather starts at temperatures 10?C lower than the previous fuel cell concept — as low as minus 30?C.

While with previous fuel cell stacks the hydrogen and the water formed in electricity generation flowed horizontally, the new FCX Concept features vertical-flow design. This allows gravity to assist in discharging the water that is produced, resulting in a major improvement in water drainage, key to high-efficiency fuel stack performance. The result is stable power generation under a broad range of conditions, and higher output from a smaller package.

As an auxiliary power source, the FCX Concept carries a compact, high-efficiency lithium ion battery, contributing to increased power output and a more compact power plant. These efficiency improvements to major power plant components give the vehicle a travel range approximately 30 percent greater than the previous fuel cell concept.

The vehicle is also highly efficient, with an energy efficiency of around 60 percent —approximately three times that of a petrol-engine vehicle, twice that of a hybrid vehicle, and 10 percent better than the previous fuel cell concept.

Other features include seat upholstery and door linings made from Honda Bio-Fabric, a plant-based material that offers outstanding durability and resistance to sunlight damage. Improvements such as Shift-by-Wire and a newly designed instrument panel with easy-to-read display of hydrogen fuel consumption facilitate improved ease of operation.

The new fuel cell vehicle currently under development for release in 2008, will feature the principle technologies of the FCX Concept to achieve a new dimension in environmentally friendly driving pleasure not found with petrol engine vehicles.