Honda lets family test hydrogen car
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From: KCK
Honda lets family test hydrogen car
http://www.freep.com/money/autonews/...e_20050629.htm
TORRANCE, Calif. -- No-pollution cars powered by hydrogen fuel cells are at least a decade away for most people -- but not one California family.
In a long-term road test, John Spallino, his wife and two daughters are to begin leasing a silver-and-blue, four-seat Honda FCX today to get them to work, school and anywhere else.
The Spallinos will provide reports about the car's performance to American Honda Motor Co. as part of the auto industry's first private test of the promising technology that produces one by-product: water clean enough to drink.
"Maybe this is the technology of the future. Maybe it isn't," said the easygoing Spallino, a financial officer who plans to use the FCX for his 80-mile round-trip commute from his home in Redondo Beach to Irvine. "But if I can be part of the evolution of this technology, that would be a lot of fun."
Honda won't say when it might mass market the FCX, which is built one by one without the economic efficiency of an assembly line.
Honda chose the Spallinos for the test in part because they already own a Honda Civic GX powered by natural gas and are accustomed to the inconvenience of finding fueling stations that provide alternatives to gasoline.
The family will pay $500 a month. That includes maintenance and insurance on the car that cost Honda more than $1 million to design and build using technology that turns hydrogen and oxygen into electricity.
There are now about 30 U.S. hydrogen fueling stations, with more than half of them in California. Spallino counts at least four on his way to work, including one at Honda's U.S. headquarters in Torrance and another at Los Angeles International Airport.
The LAX station won't open to the public for at least five years but can be used by government vehicles and now the Spallinos.
In a long-term road test, John Spallino, his wife and two daughters are to begin leasing a silver-and-blue, four-seat Honda FCX today to get them to work, school and anywhere else.
The Spallinos will provide reports about the car's performance to American Honda Motor Co. as part of the auto industry's first private test of the promising technology that produces one by-product: water clean enough to drink.
"Maybe this is the technology of the future. Maybe it isn't," said the easygoing Spallino, a financial officer who plans to use the FCX for his 80-mile round-trip commute from his home in Redondo Beach to Irvine. "But if I can be part of the evolution of this technology, that would be a lot of fun."
Honda won't say when it might mass market the FCX, which is built one by one without the economic efficiency of an assembly line.
Honda chose the Spallinos for the test in part because they already own a Honda Civic GX powered by natural gas and are accustomed to the inconvenience of finding fueling stations that provide alternatives to gasoline.
The family will pay $500 a month. That includes maintenance and insurance on the car that cost Honda more than $1 million to design and build using technology that turns hydrogen and oxygen into electricity.
There are now about 30 U.S. hydrogen fueling stations, with more than half of them in California. Spallino counts at least four on his way to work, including one at Honda's U.S. headquarters in Torrance and another at Los Angeles International Airport.
The LAX station won't open to the public for at least five years but can be used by government vehicles and now the Spallinos.
