Honda Unveils Zero-Emission Automobile

(AP)  Honda's new zero-emission, hydrogen fuel cell car rolled off a Japanese production line Monday and is headed to southern California, where Hollywood is already abuzz over the latest splash in green motoring.

The FCX Clarity, which runs on hydrogen and electricity, emits only water and none of the gases believed to induce global warming. It is also two times more energy efficient than a gas-electric hybrid and three times that of a standard gasoline-powered car, the company says.

Honda expects to lease out a "few dozen" units this year and about 200 units within a year. In California, a three-year lease will run $600 a month, which includes maintenance and collision coverage.

Among the first customers are actress Jamie Lee Curtis and filmmaker husband Christopher Guest, actress Laura Harris, film producer Ron Yerxa, as well as businessmen Jon Spallino and Jim Salomon.

"It's so smooth," said Harris, who played villainness Marie Warner on the hit TV show "24." "It's like a future machine, but it's not."

Harris, Spallino and Yerxa were flown to the ceremony, courtesy of Honda. Yerxa says he's excited to show off the car and believes there's "a lot of interest."

The biggest obstacles standing in the way of wider adoption of fuel cell vehicles are cost and the dearth of hydrogen fuel stations. For the Clarity's release in California, Honda said it received 50,000 applications through its Web site but considered only buyers living near hydrogen fuel stations in Torrance, Santa Monica and Irvine.

"This is indeed a historic day for both Honda and American Honda - a new chapter in our nearly fifty-year history in America," said John Mendel, a senior vice president at America Honda Motor Co. at a morning ceremony here. "It's an especially significant day for American Honda as we plant firm footsteps toward the mainstreaming of fuel cell cars."

Initially, however, the Clarity will go only to a chosen few starting July and then launch in Japan this fall.

Although Honda Motor Co. was the first Japanese automaker to launch a gas-electric hybrid vehicle in the U.S. in 1999, it has been outpaced by the dominance of Toyota's popular Prius.

Toyota announced in May that it has sold more than 1 million Prius hybrids, while both the Honda Insight and the hybrid Accord have been discontinued due to poor sales.

The FCX Clarity is part of Honda's plan to keep pace with rivals in green technology. It also plans to launch a gas-electric hybrid-only model, as well as hybrid versions of the Civic, the sporty CR-Z and Fit subcompact.

[thebruce384]

Believe it or not, we (Americans) did create a 100% ZERO-EMISSION vehicle that did not use potentially dangerous hydrogen. Created by General Motors and known as the EV-1, it was the first 100% ELECTRIC vehicle that could be mass-produced. Tested in California with 400 units, it was supposed to revolutionize driving world-wide as we knew it.

Why don''''t we see it today? The CALIFORNIA AIR RESOURCES BOARD, the AUTO PARTS INDUSTRY, the OIL INDUSTRY, the FEDERAL GOVERNMENT and even General Motors under pressure from all of these entities put the car away for good and the government said hydrogen was the solution. GM says that it wasn''''t time for the EV-1 and has decided to focus on its VOLT concept (not 100% electric).

We did zero-emissions first, but corporate greed killed our chance to be No. 1, so we are last.


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Posted by ndg1979 at 03:07 AM : Jun 17, 2008"

BS - all your american auto companies can produce are giant 50 gallons to a mile SUVs.
that''s why your ****** auto companies are losing money an closing plants but yet you morons still believe their CEOs are "doing a heckuva job" and need to receive 50%+ pay rises for nearly bankrupting their companies

[ndg1979]

Unfortunately, for all of you, including those who want to make this a political arena, you are missing the entire point.

Believe it or not, we (Americans) did create a 100% ZERO-EMISSION vehicle that did not use potentially dangerous hydrogen. Created by General Motors and known as the EV-1, it was the first 100% ELECTRIC vehicle that could be mass-produced. Tested in California with 400 units, it was supposed to revolutionize driving world-wide as we knew it.

Why don''t we see it today? The CALIFORNIA AIR RESOURCES BOARD, the AUTO PARTS INDUSTRY, the OIL INDUSTRY, the FEDERAL GOVERNMENT and even General Motors under pressure from all of these entities put the car away for good and the government said hydrogen was the solution. GM says that it wasn''t time for the EV-1 and has decided to focus on its VOLT concept (not 100% electric).

We did zero-emissions first, but corporate greed killed our chance to be No. 1, so we are last.

[edintex]

Oh boy, hydrogen is the answer. We should ALL be driving around with hydrogen tanks under us to save the world....... Isn''t hydrogen EXTREMELY EXPLOSIVE; more than gasoline? That''s a great idea! Lets put our spouses and children on top of hydrogen tanks and run around the city streets with millions of other cars! Better yet, lets have NUMEROUS tankers FULL OF HYDROGEN on our roads!!! You think that MAYBE the U.S. auto makers looked into the hydrogen idea years ago and decided it was a little dangerous?

[mgpm-2009]

I''m sad that an AMERICAN company didn''t come up with this FIRST.

This is technology we need. Not more oil dependence or drilling. The US government should be helping with this...helping cars get to Americans, helping stations get established. NOW not later!!!

[caldwellptr]

Zero-emmissions? Oh.

Never Mind.

[caldwellptr]

Some one please tell me why the Honda FCX Clarity automobile is call a zero-initials vehicle. It clearly has initials in the name. Hello! FCX. Why is the world so pre-occupied with zero-initial cars. You would think they would be trying to better gas mileage instead. I wouldn''t buy a car just because it has zero-initials ....

[Latrocinor]

Somebody out there, send me a legitimate website that shows how to convert a car to hydrogen

Posted by hangelle

.. .. ..
Here''s about the closest I came to a conversion step-by-step.

http://www.clean-air.org/Hydrogen%20Cobra%20Story/Hydrogen%20Cobra.htm

[Latrocinor]

Somebody out there, send me a legitimate website that shows how to convert a car to hydrogen

Posted by hangelle

.. .. ..

If you want to see what some of your tax dollars have been up to here''s a couple of suggestions.

http://www1.eere.energy.gov/hydrogenandfuelcells/tech_validation/h2_manual.html

http://www.eere.energy.gov/

[Latrocinor]

Somebody out there, send me a legitimate website that shows how to convert a car to hydrogen

Posted by hangelle
.. .. ..

There aren''t any that I can find. I joined some internet newsgroups/clubs and the scammers are there too.

So buyer beware.

[pat1967-2009]

Consensus

Actually, that''''s not how water vapor works. As a meteorologist, I suggest reading about positive feedback loops caused by water vapor.


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Posted by ouwxquack at 02:55 PM : Jun 16, 2008

Actually, I have. Water vapor seems to only cause a significant positive feedback loop if there is no cloud formation. Currently there is very little consensus on the resultant effects of increased atmospheric water vapor as clouds usually form thus reducing the feedback.

I am fairly certain that a sunny day over any given ocean will add more water vapor to the atmosphere than many millions of fuel cell vehicles. I would opt for a few more clouds over the continued use of fossil fuels. In other words, vapor emissions from all but the most concentrated areas of use will be very difficult to measure above background.