Behind the wheel of Honda’s latest fuel-cell concept car.
BY BARRY WINFIELD, September 2006
If anyone can get fuel-cell technology developed at an affordable price level, Honda looks to be in the running. The company is on its third version of a fuel-cell powertrain, and each one has bumped the performance and range upward, with decreased size and improved efficiency. In the latest form, Honda’s FCX features a new V Flow fuel-cell stack with a claimed power-to-volume density increase of 50 percent, and a power-to-weight density improvement of 67 percent. The stack is 20-percent smaller and 30-percent lighter than the current version. The total powertrain mass has been reduced by almost 400 pounds, and the output has jumped from 86 to 100 kilowatts.
The system is also now more tidily packaged, with the fuel-cell stack residing neatly in the car’s central tunnel. That packaging improvement is possible because the stack orientation has changed; now the hydrogen and water flow through the system vertically instead of horizontally. That facilitates faster water evacuation, which is a key to efficient stack operation. The system now operates at a much lower temperature, capable of starting up in ambient temperatures as low as minus 20-degrees F. Coupled to a new lithium-ion storage battery and a 127-horsepower AC synchronous motor, the energy source provides a range of up to 350 miles, according to Honda.
At Honda’s Tochigi proving ground, where we drove the new FCX, the only evidence of all this advancement is a futuristic but spacious vehicle that moves off briskly with a whisper of sound, accelerates fairly quickly to highway cruising speeds, and continues on to a top speed of 100 mph. Steering and ride quality seemed to be typical of Honda products, with no sense of large weight or unwieldiness in the admittedly limited confines of a high-speed oval. With all the fuss made about fuel-cell technology, it’s easy to forget that vehicles using this energy source are just electric vehicles at heart, with no exciting exhaust note or interesting transmissions to light the enthusiast’s flame. Still, having 189 pound-feet of torque available from rest isn’t a bad thing, and nor is a quiet powertrain or the all-important zero-emissions operation. Honda is planning to market a vehicle based on this FCX concept in limited numbers in 2008 in Japan and the U.S. Pricing and/or lease arrangements have yet to be decided.
