Honda FCX Clarity: 5 Facts

Production has Started in Japan
While still years away from mass production, limited production of the breathlessly anticipated Honda FCX Clarity fuel cell vehicle has now begun at a dedicated fuel cell vehicle facility in Tochigi, Japan. Honda plans to produce 200 units over the next three years. The automaker has also announced its first five hand-picked customers: film producer Ron Yerxa; actress Jamie Lee Curtis and her filmmaker husband Christopher Guest; actress Laura Harris; car enthusiast Jim Salomon; and Jon Spallino, a first-generation FCX lessee. Leases will begin in July. Southern California's Power Honda Costa Mesa, Honda of Santa Monica, and Scott Robinson Honda will become the first three dealerships in Honda's fuel cell dealer network.

A Stand-Out Design
When Green Car editors drove Honda's FCX Clarity on a California test track early in its development, it was evident this fuel cell vehicle was worlds apart from the earlier efforts at Honda. The automaker's classic fuel cell developmental vehicle, the original FCX, was a boxy design based on the circa-1990s battery electric powered Honda EV Plus platform. In contrast, the front-wheel drive FCX Clarity is anything but boxy. It's sleek and stylish with the kind of features that get buyers' hearts racing.

The Specs
The five-passenger FCX Clarity sedan sits on a 110.2 inch wheelbase and measures in at 190.3 inches long, 72.7 inches wide, and 57.8 inches high. Curb weight is 3582 pounds. It's powered by a 134 horsepower AC synchronous electric motor with energy from a 148 pound, 100kW proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell stack and a 288 volt lithium-ion battery pack. A 5,000 psi hydrogen tank stores 4.1 kilograms of gaseous hydrogen. The car achieves an EPA estimated Gasoline Gallon Equivalent (GGE) combined city/highway fuel economy rating of 74 mpg. Top speed is 100 mph and driving range is about 280 miles.

New Fuel Cell Powerplant
The Clarity's advanced vertical fuel cell stack configuration allows this electro-chemical powerplant to be mounted in a center tunnel layout. Moving the compact fuel cell here opens up design possibilities that were previously unattainable, such as integrating the stack into a low-profile and elegant sedan form. Also, moving hydrogen vertically through a stack - rather than horizontally as is traditionally done - facilitates improved water drainage to overcome one of the real issues in fuel cell operation. Fuel cell stack power has also increased even as Honda's stack design decreased in size and weight.

It's Like Driving the Future
Behind-the-wheel time in the FCX Clarity is enlightening. It feels good piloting this car and a driver is struck by just how "normal" the experience seems, even as this innovative vehicle is being propelled by electric motors, fed by hydrogen-produced energy, with energy recaptured in lithium-ion batteries. Adding to its portfolio of future-oriented technologies is a drive-by-wire throttle system and a shift-by-wire gear selector.