Honda completed the first production fuel cell FCX Clarity in Japan on Monday (16 June).
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“After 19 years of development, this ‘real world’ fuel cell car marks the beginning of a new era of cleaner motoring,” the company claimed.
The FCX Clarity – which emits only water from its exhaust pipe – was presented to three of the first US customers in a line-off ceremony at the world’s first dedicated fuel cell vehicle factory: the Honda Automobile New Model Centre in Tochigi Prefecture.
Lease sales are scheduled to begin in July in the United States, and in Japan this autumn. The combined total for Japan and the US will be approximately 70 cars per year, with 200 units over three years. Hand-picked customers will take a three-year lease at US$600 a month (about GBP290), including maintenance and collision insurance.
Among the early adopters are the actress Jamie Lee Curtis and her film maker husband Christopher Guest, and film producer Ron Yerxa.
A new dedicated fuel cell vehicle assembly line was established to build the car and includes unique processes such as the installation of the fuel cell stack and hydrogen tank.
The stack itself is produced at Honda Engineering. In manufacturing fuel cells, exclusively designed automated equipment was introduced to ensure quality of the highest precision while enabling mass production of cells, with several hundred required for each fuel cell stack.
For non-Hollywood A-listers, Honda is continuing development of its low emission, petrol-electric hybrid vehicles.
Next year, its “more affordable” hybrid car goes on sale. The company claimed it is “a car so keenly priced, that more people around the world will be able to adopt cleaner motoring technology, thus significantly reducing global car emissions.”
