Vancouver, British Columbia – Unveiled in November, 2007 at the Los Angeles Auto show, the production version of the Honda FCX Clarity fuel cell car – yes, the production version – is now being leased to a limited number of “early adopters” in southern California - including some movie stars such as Jamie Lee Curtis - on a three-year lease for US$600 a month. Honda plans to have about 200 FCX Claritys on the road in the U.S. and Japan by 2011.
The Honda FCX Clarity is a (U.S.) street legal, zero-emissions, fuel cell-powered mid-size sedan that meets all current North American safety standards and performs much like a standard four-cylinder gasoline-engined car, according to Honda. One was recently driven from southern California to Vancouver as part of the Hydrogen Road Tour 2009, a promotional rally sponsored by various government and corporate entities interested in the promotion of hydrogen as an automotive fuel – you can read CanadianDriver’s coverage here. I was one of a group of eager journalists to get a brief test drive in the FCX Clarity last week.
Unlike most other fuel cell vehicles now being tested in small fleets, the FCX Clarity doesn’t make use of an existing vehicle bodystyle that is converted to a fuel cell vehicle. The FCX Clarity is a clean-sheet design engineered and designed around its fuel cell drive components. As a result, Honda was able to package the components in a way that permitted a roomy four-passenger interior, a spacious trunk, and an eye-catching aerodynamic exterior design.
Under that stylish exterior, the FCX Clarity’s fuel cell components include a high pressure (5000 psi) hydrogen tank behind the rear seat; a third-generation Honda fuel cell stack in the console between the driver and front passenger that generates a maximum 100 kilowatts of electricity; a 288-volt lithium-ion battery under the rear seat to store the electricity; a combined 100-kW electric drive motor/coaxial gearbox/power drive unit in the engine bay that propels the car with the equivalent of 134 horsepower and 189 ft-lbs of torque.
Essentially, the FCX Clarity is an electric car powered by a fuel cell assisted by a powerful battery, and it has some similarities to Honda’s gasoline-electric hybrid cars. Pressurized hydrogen gas is fed into the fuel cell where it’s combined with oxygen to create electricity (the only byproduct is water). The electricity flows to a 100-kW AC synchronous electric motor where it is directed by the Power Drive Unit (PDU) through a one-speed (plus Reverse) coaxial gearbox to the front wheels.
During start-up and acceleration, electricity from the lithium ion battery supplements power from the fuel cell and during deceleration, the electric motor acts as a generator to charge the battery. When cruising on the highway, the car operates on electricity from the fuel cell stack alone. When the FCX Clarity is stopped, an idle stop system shuts down the fuel cell stack, and the electricity needed for the power steering, power brakes, air conditioning and other power features is supplied by the battery.
The FCX Clarity has come a long way from the original Honda FCX fuel cell car introduced in 2002. That car was a boxy, two-door subcompact car with a fuel cell that weighed 202 kilograms and developed 60 kW of power, and couldn’t operate at sub-zero temperatures. The current FCX Clarity, by comparison, is a mid-size four-door sedan with a 100-kW fuel cell that weighs only 67 kg, is less than half the size of Honda’s original fuel cell, and can operate at temperatures down to minus 30 degrees Celsius.
On the road, the FCX Clarity drives much like a battery-electric car. Off-the-line throttle response is immediate because of the abundant low-end torque of 189 ft-lbs from 0 to 3000 r.p.m. courtesy of the lithium ion battery and electric motor. Under acceleration, there is a slight hissing sound from the fuel cell and a whine from the electric motor, but it’s much quieter overall than a gasoline engine. The single speed coaxial gearbox has no gear changes – power delivery is just a smooth, linear progression.
The FCX Clarity’s curb weight of 1624 kg (3582 lbs) is a little more than an Accord EX 4-cylinder sedan at 1550 kg (3417 lbs) but Honda says its acceleration times are comparable. According to the Automobile Journalists Association of Canada (AJAC), an Accord EX 4-cylinder goes from 0 to 100 km/h in 9.5 seconds. The FCX Clarity’s top speed is 160 km/h.
A maximum driving range of 385 kilometres is not as good as a conventional gasoline-engined car, but it is twice that of many battery-electric cars.
With a fully independent suspension (double wishbone front suspension, independent multi-link rear suspension), and a low, wide stance, the FCX Clarity handles and rides with stability and comfort and while it’s electric power rack and pinion steering doesn’t offer much feedback, the car’s tight turning diameter of just 10.8 metres (35.4 feet) allows tight turns and excellent manoeuvrability.
Fuel economy is measured in miles per kilogram of hydrogen (mile/kg-h2) and the FCX Clarity averages 68 miles/kg H2. But because we don’t know what a kilogram of hydrogen gas would cost at a hydrogen station of the future, it’s difficult to compare the fuel costs of gasoline vs hydrogen. Honda does say that the FCX Clarity’s fuel efficiency is up to three times that of a gasoline-powered automobile and two times that of a gasoline-powered hybrid vehicle.
It takes only five minutes to fill up the FCX Clarity’s pressurized gaseous hydrogen fuel tank. The time is comparable to a conventional gasoline car or hybrid and much better than a battery-electric car which usually requires from three to eight hours to recharge, depending on the charging system.
The FCX Clarity’s futuristic four-passenger interior design includes a single round illuminated gauge facing the driver with an H2 meter, a battery meter, a Power/Charge display, and a round ball in the centre of the display that changes size and colour depending on the driver’s mileage – blue is good, yellow is normal, and amber is poor. As in other Hondas, the speedometer is a digital readout on top of the dash. A Power button starts up the fuel cell after a key has been inserted, and a very small electronic gear shift lever to the right of the steering wheel lets the driver select a gear, which is indicated in the gauge display.
All the interior fabric coverings are made from corn and plant biomass “to help move away from petroleum-based resins and other synthetic fibres,” according to Honda. That includes the seats, armrests, console trays, carpeting, roof linings and trunk linings.
The silver-coloured centre stack protrudes aggressively into the cabin for easier reach of the controls, and the navigation system includes a location finder for the nearest hydrogen station. Headroom and legroom for all four occupants is generous, but my guess is that the rear centre console will eventually be replaced by a centre seat to make it a five-passenger sedan. The FCX Clarity’s trunk volume of 371 litres (13.1 cu. ft.) is almost as good as the Accord sedan with 397 litres (14.0 cu. ft.)
The FCX Clarity is arguably, the most advanced fuel cell car in the world. It’s stylish, practical, comfortable, safe, street-legal, and emissions-free. In April 2009, an international group of 59 independent automotive journalists from 25 countries named it “2009 World Green Car” from amongst 22 contenders.
Honda has proven that it can build a practical, safe and clean zero-emissions vehicle, and others will soon follow. The next step is for energy companies, governments and investors to finance and build a viable hydrogen refuelling infrastructure. That will be a challenge, but if Honda were to put CEOs and elected representatives behind the wheel of an FCX Clarity for a day, I think the chances would be much better.
Greg Wilson is a Vancouver-based automotive journalist and editor of CanadianDriver. He is a member of the Automobile Journalists Association of Canada (AJAC).
Source;
http://www.canadiandriver.com/2009/06/12/first-drive-honda-fcx-clarity.htm?page=all
Awesome review, check out the other pics on the link above!
2 comments:
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