Honda FCX clarity arrives in Europe, but only for the media
2009 Honda FCX Clarity - Click above for high-res image gallery
Honda has brought the Honda FCX Clarity to the Old Continent. Unfortunately, interested drivers won't be able to lease the hydrogen-powered car, since the Clarity is here just for members of the press. Only two vehicles have been brought ashore, and both are registered in Germany.
One of the first publications to glimpse the car is Autoplus, in important car magazine in France. Autoplus highly praised the Clarity, saying it was as an upscale, family-oriented large sedan with great assembly quality. The magazine said that "perceived quality" is one of the Clarity's most important selling points. Also, the 460-km (300-mile) range is considered excellent, although there are barely any hydrogen filling stations in Europe, except in Norway. Considering that the car isn't available here, anyway, it's not a big problem right now.
Gallery: 2009 Honda FCX Clarity First drive
[Source: Autoplus]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
letstakeawalk 11:43AM (10/15/2009)
It makes sense to base them in Germany, where the hydrogen infrastructure is being implemented. So far, there are 29 Hydrogen stations in Germany, and a couple dozen more scattered through Europe. Considering the relatively small geographic area, that's not a bad start for coverage.
http://www.fuelcells.org/info/charts/h2fuelingstations.pdf
http://www.ika.rwth-aachen.de/r2h/index.php/European_Hydrogen_Infrastructure_and_Production
Reply
DasBoese 1:41PM (10/15/2009)
Yes, yes... hydrogen cars make so much sense in Germany, where every household has at least one 220V/16A outlet, and most have the option of installing a 400V 32A 3-phase outlet because the actual grid is 400V 3-phase. In addition to our well-developed LNG/LPG distribution network, the hundreds and growing ethanol stations and associated popularity of those cars.
Gerald 4:21AM (10/16/2009)
This document also lists fueling stations that have since been closed, for example the "Munich Airport Vehicle Project H2 fueling station" listed in the PDF was shut down in 2006.
Dennis C. McGrath 11:55AM (10/15/2009)
If the building out a hydrogen refilling infrastructure is a barrier to the sale of hydrogen powered vehicles, then why wouldn't Honda make each of its dealerships a refilling station (or outsource the service to some subcontractor at each of its dealerships)? They may be scarce on the ground in some areas, but here on the East Coast of the US they are located far closer to one another than every 300 miles. I won't be surprised if Honda (and perhaps BMW) make selling hydrogen cars easier for themselves by making the refueling easier for their customers, and who selling a high ticket item like a FCX Clarity wouldn't want customers dropping back in every week or so?
Reply
Serge 12:33PM (10/15/2009)
Because no sane Honda dealership owner will install a hydrogen refilling station that costs to the tune of $5M (in addition to fixed costs there are very high insurance costs) just to service a few million dollar upscale family sedans.
To answer your question, there are 4 barriers to sale of hydogen fuel cell vehicles that all need to be surmounted in order to approach the "available for sale" stage.
letstakeawalk 1:01PM (10/15/2009)
Serge
Why should the Honda dealers provide fuel? That's not in their business model - they sell cars. Selling fuel would require a major change in their business plan, and it doesn't make sense, no matter how simple a suggestion it might be. Anyway, the Europeans, in particular Germany and Denmark, are making good progress in building their H2 refueling infrastructure, making it a moot argument.
http://www.netinform.net/H2/H2Stations/H2Stations.aspx?Continent=EU&StationID=-1
Serge 2:27PM (10/15/2009)
letstakeawalk: the hypothesis was that infrastructure is what's holding up the "imminent" availability for sale of HFCVs, with Honda potentially taking the lead action to break the logjam. As you can see yourself the hypothesis is easily refuted.
As far as "European progress" is concerned, I have not seen much beyond loud proclamations and ceremonial demonstrations of Memorandums of Understanding. Taxing fuels is a *major* source of revenue for European governments, so I can understand why they would be willing to commit (and risk) significant public resources to replicating the current scheme in the next generation of transportation network.
In the U.S. such "government in the lead" approach is bound for failure as no significant political force is willing to stand behind the hydrogen economy boondoggle any longer. Private enterprises, like incumbent fossil energy players, also know better than risking billions of dollars of private funds on infrastructure that faces a serious competitive challenge in the form of ER-EV/BEV platform.
What approach is ultimately successful remains to be seen. My guess is that come 2015 the U.S. will export more than Tesla Roadsters to Europe and there will not be any Mercedes F-Cells going in the other direction. Oh, and Clarity will loose all the hydrogen crap and will be offered as an ER-EV competing with the Volt.
smartacus 6:41PM (10/15/2009)
actually; 460 km is more like 285 miles
Reply
Richard 12:53PM (10/15/2009)
This car is so beautiful, I can't believe Honda is wasting this design on Hydrogen alone! They should make it BEV.
Reply
letstakeawalk 1:07PM (10/15/2009)
Give Honda some credit, after all they sold the first mass-market hybrid in the US: the 1999 Insight. They're just continuing to push towards future technologies, nothing wrong with that.
3PeaceSweet 1:30PM (10/15/2009)
If they put the drive train from the original Insight in the body of the clarity as a range extender instead of the fuel cell they would have a winning vehicle.
Boyprodigy1 1:47PM (10/15/2009)
Forget the range extender... If they replaced it with enough batteries for a Tesla level range they could still lease it for less than they do now...
Alan 1:47PM (10/15/2009)
I feel depressed ever time I see that beautiful car, especially as it's rumored that it already has a 16kwh battery pack to support the fuel cell, not that Honda seem to be very keen to disclose what capacity battery they are using?!
Carney 2:30PM (10/15/2009)
The Hydrogen Hoax:
http://www.thenewatlantis.com/publications/the-hydrogen-hoax
Reply
letstakeawalk 1:29AM (10/22/2009)
This is why ABG is said to have an anti-Hydrogen bias.
Who votes up such a terrible link?
Carney 4:25PM (10/22/2009)
Reality, economics, and the fundamental laws of physics and chemistry also have a well-known "anti-hydrogen bias".