Originally published December 7 2005
Honda's hydrogen power vehicle receives good marks from auto critic
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
James Healey reviews Honda's FCX, a new model that runs on hydrogen power and features the same amenities as most other small cars.
Dash about in your hydrogen-power automobile and refuel at an otherwise ordinary Shell gasoline station in a gritty commercial area near the U.S. Capitol.
You have to call ahead, though, to be sure a hydrogen-savvy attendant is available.
Or you have to have undergone the training Shell thinks you need to safely connect two hoses to your hydrogen car.
The test vehicle, a Honda FCX, is a small, front-wheel-drive, electric car.
Hydrogen stored in tanks under the car is passed through membranes in what's called the stack near the back of the car, where an electro-chemical reaction creates electricity for the motor up front.
FCX can go 190 miles in highway driving on a full tank, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Honda and Shell say a kilogram of hydrogen is the energy equivalent of a gallon of gas.
You have to wait for the fuel cell to go through a self-check each time you start the car, but that takes only 8 seconds --- same as it takes to close the driver's door, buckle the safety belt and release the parking brake.
There's no power plant noise when you start the car because there's nothing revving.
A gauge similar in appearance to a tachometer tells how much power the fuel cell is putting out, how much is coming from the capacitor, how much is left in the capacitor and how much you're recharging the capacitor via regenerative braking, as used on gas-electric hybrids.
Because of the water involved in a fuel cell's energy conversion process, it's hard to get a fuel cell to work below freezing temperatures.
The cars cost Honda about $1.5 million to build and are leased for $500 a month.
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