By Nichola Groom
LOS ANGELES, Nov 20 (Reuters) – Honda Motor Co Ltd
has high hopes for its hydrogen fuel cell vehicle and its
advanced technology to reduce tailpipe emissions, although the
Japanese carmaker concedes consumers may take a few years to
warm to the concept.
Honda unveiled the 5-passenger vehicle at the Los Angeles
Auto Show on Wednesday. It doesn’t have a name, for now, and is
referred to simply by the acronym for a fuel cell electric
vehicle – the ‘FCEV Concept’.
The fuel cell vehicle is expected to launch in the United
States and Japan in 2015, but the odds are the car won’t make an
appearance in most U.S. showrooms until well beyond that year.
Adoption of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles has been stunted by
their high price and a lack of investment in fueling
infrastructure. There are currently just 10 public hydrogen
fueling stations in the United States, according to the U.S.
Department of Energy.
“The beginning of the launch, the timing of 2015, I don’t
think we will have a big volume,” Tetsuo Iwamura, chief
executive of Honda’s U.S. business, told reporters at the Los
Angeles Auto Show. Higher volumes will come gradually, he said.
Honda did not say how much it expects the vehicle to cost.
“This type of technology can’t happen immediately across the
U.S.,” he added, saying adoption of fuel cell vehicles would
likely begin to grow in small markets like Southern California.
Carlos Ghosn, the CEO of Renault SA and Nissan
Motor Co, echoed Iwamura’s concerns at the Tokyo Motor
Show on Wednesday, saying infrastructure costs could stall the
uptake of fuel cell cars.
California aims to have 1.5 million zero-emissions vehicles,
which would include fuel cell cars, on its roads by 2025.
Fuel-cell cars use a “stack” of cells that combine hydrogen
with oxygen in the air to generate electricity. Their only
emission is water vapor and they can run five times longer than
electric cars.
Fuel cells are much less of a burden on the environment than
rival technologies, Iwamura said when asked why Honda was
investing in a technology that lacks a refueling infrastructure.
Honda and General Motors Co in July said they would
jointly develop hydrogen fuel-cell vehicle systems over the next
seven years in an effort to cut the cost of the new technology.
There are just two fuel-cell vehicles available in the U.S.
market: Honda’s FCX Clarity, which is available to lease, and
the Mercedes-Benz F-Cell.
Also at the L.A. show, Hyundai Motor Co said it
plans to offer consumers a fuel cell version of its Tucson
crossover vehicle for the U.S. market starting in the spring of
2014 in Southern California. It set the price at $499 per month
for a 36-month term with a $2,999 down payment and said the deal
included unlimited free hydrogen refueling.
