This is the second of a two part post. Part one can be found here.
Bloomberg press sent luxury car columnist Jason Harper on a little trip from New York to Pennsylvannia in one of the few Honda FCX Clarity, pure hydrogen cars in American. Here’s what he had to say about the trip:
It’s not every day that you get to kick the wheels on the car of tomorrow. After all, the question of what will power future automobiles is a guessing game, with candidates ranging from electricity and compressed natural gas to hydrogen fuel cells.
Honda made an expensive bet in that guessing game by designing the hydrogen-powered FCX Clarity. It’s costly (perhaps $500,000 each to produce), yet the sedan emits only water.
Both Honda and Chevy are testing fuel-cell vehicles by making them available for lease by select customers. Hydrogen’s big upside is its cleanliness and ability to be produced from many sources, even water and human waste.
Fuel-cell stacks are akin to mini power stations in which the chemical energy of hydrogen and oxygen is converted into electricity, which then powers an electric motor. Since hydrogen is a gas, it’s stored under pressure in reinforced tanks.
There are big hurdles to clear because the technology is expensive and an entire hydrogen refueling infrastructure will need to be created. (Honda’s previous FCX, first delivered in 2002, cost about $1 million each to produce. Executives are coy but say the Clarity costs about half that.)
I pick up the Clarity in Manhattan with the intent of driving it dry, as I’m curious about the refueling process itself. Is it complicated?
I turn the key, push the start button and the center gauges soon turn blue, indicating it’s ready to drive. Like a hybrid or electric car, there’s no start-up noise.
I motor into traffic, trying not to ignore the fact that while the Clarity is as exotic and expensive as an Italian supercar, nobody else — including errant yellow taxis — knows this. Best to avoid fender benders.
Refueling Station
I’m on my way to Allentown, Pennsylvania, about 90 miles away. There I will find Air Products & Chemicals Inc. and its hydrogen refilling station. The Clarity has a range of 190 miles of highway driving, 280 of combined city/freeway. (Like hybrids, fuel-cell vehicles get better mileage in town, at slow speeds with less wind resistance.) A full tank is just enough for one back-and-forth trip.
In the Clarity’s case, hydrogen is delivered as pressurized gas, and one kilogram is roughly equivalent to one gallon of gas. Over 200 miles in the day, I average 55 miles per “gallon.” Yet the tank only holds about four kilograms of hydrogen, and if you run out, a flatbed truck is in your immediate future.
Only in California
The Clarity has its own production line, which over the next three years will put out some 200 cars. Only Southern California customers are currently getting them since the state has the most hydrogen stations. Customers are pre-vetted, and leases cost $600 a month for three years, including maintenance and insurance. (So far, only a few have been delivered.) Honda is obviously not making money on the project, but it does suggest a certain seriousness.
New York won’t see the Clarity soon. General Motors Corp., though, is offering its fuel-cell Chevy Equinox SUV at no cost to some 100 drivers in New York, Southern California and Washington, D.C. New York drivers can use a Shell station in White Plains.
The Clarity was expressly designed as a fuel-cell vehicle, and the result is an elegant and handsome four-door sedan. With no big engine in the front, the hood and overhang are quite short and offset by a raked windshield. The Clarity is basically one long swoop, with a high back trunk to minimize air drag. Futuristic, though not aggressively so.
Easy Handling
I’m surprised to find that it drives just about like any other Honda. It’s easy to negotiate in traffic, handles nicely and doesn’t feel especially sluggish. Nor did I have any problem keeping up with fast traffic on the highway.
It looks like a real car, too. The test version has a metallic burgundy paint job, attractive wheel rims and an interior that would make an Acura proud, with GPS navigation, cooled and heated seats and tons of room.
Electronic gauges monitor gas mileage, hydrogen levels and range, and how much power is recaptured while braking (a technology shared with hybrids). A small circle at the center expands and contracts depending on how much power is being used — an intuitive way of gauging how efficiently you’re driving.
My range is dwindling as I near Allentown, and I’m glad to find Air Products, which has some 85 hydrogen stations in 15 countries. They’re expecting me, and representatives explain the simple refueling process.
I insert a narrow hose onto a nozzle inside the car’s gas latch and then turn a locking lever. It’s a “closed system,” so the hydrogen neither leaks nor releases fumes. The pump performs a check of the pressure inside the car’s hydrogen chamber, then begins fueling.
Minutes later, I’m back on the road to New York.
No doubt hydrogen technology has a long way to go to become practical, yet if the Clarity is any indication, the actual process of driving and refueling could be a painless one.
The Honda FCX Clarity at a Glance
Engine: Fuel-cell stack and electric drive motor, with 134 horsepower and 189 pound-feet of torque.
Transmission: One-speed direct drive.
Speed: 0 to 60 miles per hour in about 10 seconds.
Gas mileage per kilogram: 77 city; 67 highway.
Best features: Emits only water but drives like a gas-fueled car.
Worst feature: The fear of running out of hydrogen and being stranded.
Target buyer: The true environmental front runner (who also lives in Southern California).
(Jason H. Harper writes about autos for Bloomberg News. The opinions expressed are his own.)
Tags: Chemical Energy, Compressed Natural Gas, Electric Car, Fuel Cell Car, Fuel Cell Stacks, Fuel Cell Vehicles, Future Automobiles, Guessing Game, Honda Fcx, Hydrogen Car, Hydrogen Cars, hydrogen fuel cell, Hydrogen Fuel Cell Car, Hydrogen Fuel Cells, Jason Harper, Little Trip, Luxury Car, Start Button, Waste Fuel, Yellow Taxis
This is part one of a two part post.
Let’s keep the spotlight on the hydrogen cars for just a moment longer. Respected financial reporting giant Bloomberg sent one of its writers to test drive Honda’s FCX Clarity. His story is the second part of this post.
The car he drove is a pure hydrogen fuel celled vehicle. It is not a gasoline/hydrogen hybrid. It is considered a breakthrough by many since it’s price to produce dropped from over 1 million dollars per car to approximately $500,000.00 per vehicle.
Honda is road testing 200 of the cars in California by allowing people to lease them for $600 per month. For a major auto manufacturer this is a real breakthrough. It proves they are serious about developing the technology and that they believe it will become a viable and profitable product that will pay them back all their development dollars and more.
Costs to develop hydrogen fuel cell technologies reach well beyond the bumper. The infrastructure needed to deliver the compressed hydrogen gas doesn’t exist as yet. Storage tanks, hydrogen fuel stations, distribution lines, etc. all need to be built. Safegaurding against the extreme explosive nature of hydrogen in this state makes every step of that development even more costly.
“The relation goes deeper than a substitute for gasoline profits because oil refiners already make large amounts of hydrogen and are in a good position to profit from the transition to fuel cell cars,” says the Japanese Nikkei business newspaper in a recent article about Nikkon Oil.
Kinda puts the $200 cost of homemade HHO kits that boost gas mileage by 25-50% (or more) into a different perspective, doesn’t it.
Some conspiracy theorists would have you believe that the high development cost of the hydrogen car is the real reason so many people associated with the auto industry have come out against the homemade onboard hydrogen generation. Others cite a more practical flaw that has been a drag on the performance of the kits themselves. Until a way is found to circumvent the oxygen sensors built in to the engine itself, the HHO kits will not consistently be able to live up to early claims of 100% to 300% plus boosts in gas mileage.
There are several workarounds and inexpensive devices that have recently been created to overcome the sensor issues. But the bad press heaped on the proponents of this type of alternative fuel solution may prove harder to overcome than conspiracy theories are to prove or disprove.
Tags: 1 Million Dollars, Auto Manufacturer, Conspiracy Theorists, Development Dollars, Diesel Fuel, Different Perspective, Distribution Lines, Explosive Nature, Fuel Cell Technologies, Fuel Cell Vehicle, Gas Mileage, Hydrogen Car, Hydrogen Cars, hydrogen fuel cell, Hydrogen Fuel Stations, Hydrogen Gas, Hydrogen Generation, Major Auto, Nikkei Business, Oil Refineries, Oil Refiners, Oxygen Sensors, Petroleum Products, Profitable Product, Storage Tanks
Though gas prices have plummeted in recent months, the interest in alternative fueled vehicles hasn’t. Analysts say that American spending patterns continue to show that people believe the price drop is temporary and prices will rise again after the holidays.
Using water as fuel for cars continues to reappear as an popular alternative fuel choice although the terms used to describe it are not really accurate. An engine that runs on water wouldn’t really be running on the water itself, but instead extracting the hydrogen gas (also known as HHO or brown’s gas) from the water to be used as fuel. By using certain specialized equipment, the hydrogen can be separated from the oxygen in water and injected into the car’s fuel lines.
There are two systems that are most common for utilizing water as fuel for cars. The first system, a hybrid type system supplements your vehicle’s gasoline fueled engine with hydrogen gas. The second system relies on hydrogen gas production either on board or off-vehicle.
Vehicles with hybrid hydrogen gas fueling systems help to reduce the amount of gasoline usage, greatly extend the miles per gallon, and reducing vehicle emissions because hydrogen fuel is clean burning with zero emissions. Hydrogen gas emits only water vapor when it is burned with oxygen.
There are many kits that will produce hydrogen gas onboard. The cheapest kits cost less than $100 and use parts from hardware stores and auto shops to help you convert your existing engine. You can learn more about the top companies offering these HHO kits here.
More complex kits can cost up to several thousand dollars and include all of the parts that you will require. A true “water as fuel for cars” system will allow you car to run on pure hydrogen fuel. This system is the most expensive and labor-intensive conversion kit. Once you have finished with it, however, you’ll never need to visit a regular gasoline station again.
In order to save gas in your vehicle you could either install a hydrolizer to produce the HHO in your vehicle or opt for a manufactured car equipped with fuel cells for hydrogen gas storage. However, the second option is practical only if you are located near hydrogen producing plant or fueling station. In this method, the hydrogen gas is produced in the plant or fueling station instead of in the vehicle.
Vehicle manufacturers such as Honda and BMW are designing their new model vehicles with a view to using built-in tanks to store water as fuel for cars. Given the present lack of availability of hydrogen fueling stations, major automobile manufacturers will be constrained to offer only hydrogen/gasoline hybrid systems. The engines that will be used in these cars will be modified version of the same manufacturers’ gasoline engines and this modification will give optimum performance.
Water as fuel for cars technology is considered safe and has been used in various programs for more than one hundred years, including the space program. It is more stable than gas-powered engines and has had very few major adjustments over the years, but it still will be some time before using water as fuel in your vehicle will be commonplace.
Tags: Auto Shops, Conversion Kit, Engine That Runs On Water, Fuel Choice, Fuel Lines, Fueling Systems, Gasoline Station, Gasoline Usage, Hho, Holidays Water, Hybrid Type, Hydrogen Cars, Hydrogen Fuel, Hydrogen Gas, Miles Per Gallon, Several Thousand Dollars, Specialized Equipment, True Water, Vehic, Vehicle Emissions, Zero Emissions
