Honda FCX Clarity: A View of the Future?

To continue with the theme of future vehicles and a good suggestion from a comment I will look at a Japanese approach to the problem of lack of fossil fuel resources as well as the level of CO2 emitted by today's vehicles. One of these solutions in the Honda FCX Clarity which unlike the Chevrolet Volt it uses Hydrogen Fuel cells which uses electromagnetic interactions to create electricity with the byproducts of steam and heat. The creation of Vertically Stacked cell membranes (used in creating electricity) allowed the designers to create more interior room as well as more efficient transfer of the water byproduct out of system.



From several reviews many others have said that it drives and handles just like any car, but with the signature silence of other electric vehicles. In my opinion I won't mind the lack of noise, it is very pleasing sound in a high performance track machine, but it is always something that is lacking in an everyday driver. The hydrogen path allows for vehicles that offer environmental advantages without taking the pleasure and ease of driving out of the equation. It also keeps to interior similar with a fuel gauge instead of just an efficiency gauge or a battery life monitor.
















Another advantage of a singular power source in a vehicle is that the system of refueling stations can be very similar to those used to dispense gasoline and diesel. Hydrogen also has the advantage of being one of the most abundant elements in the universe. The hydrogen can be created using solar power and electrolysis on site or in many other fashions. Honda even has an idea of their own that looks like it could become a very favorable trend in the future.




Honda has introduced what they call a Home Energy station. The idea behind this is to have in your garage a generator that is able to create hydrogen using natural gas but at the same time creating heat and electricity for the house. Unlike simply using power generated by a power station miles away you actually can make your house more efficient. An idea like this could have great importance to other automakers as the world transitions to an alternate fuel and possibly a hydrogen market.


The Clarity again though is a car that is simply a test bed as well as a test in the marketability of a Hydrogen/Electric vehicle. Stylistically it has elements of current cars but as the same time has some odd ones. These being the rear quarter-panel, the odd body line, and the odd swooping tail of a rear end. To my eye it is not very attractive but I can see the merits of the design, but certainly doesn't have as unique shape as say the now famous, or infamous Prius. Hydrogen seems like a good idea and from the reviews I have read have designed a "good" car, but to be honest we won't see a Hydrogen economy in less than a decade at the least. There will be a solution and I think that solution needs to be a one fuel source economy and not a hybrid one but we are simply at the test stage of that future. Drivers like me simply need to be patient and supportive as the Automotive and Energy work together to try to find a feasible means of fueling the world.