Honda FCX concept - Previews
Behind the wheel of Honda’s latest fuel-cell concept
car.
By Barry Winfield, September 2006
If anyone can get fuel-cell technology
developed at an affordable price level, Honda looks to be
in the running. The company is on its third version of a
fuel-cell powertrain, and each one has bumped the performance
and range upward, with decreased size and improved efficiency.
In the latest form, Honda’s FCX features a new V Flow
fuel-cell stack with a claimed power-to-volume density increase
of 50 percent, and a power-to-weight density improvement
of 67 percent. The stack is 20-percent smaller and 30-percent
lighter than the current version. The total powertrain mass
has been reduced by almost 400 pounds, and the output has
jumped from 86 to 100 kilowatts.
The system is also now more tidily
packaged, with the fuel-cell stack residing neatly in the
car’s central tunnel. That packaging improvement is
possible because the stack orientation has changed; now
the hydrogen and water flow through the system vertically
instead of horizontally. That facilitates faster water evacuation,
which is a key to efficient stack operation. The system
now operates at a much lower temperature, capable of starting
up in ambient temperatures as low as minus 20-degrees F.
Coupled to a new lithium-ion storage battery and a 127-horsepower
AC synchronous motor, the energy source provides a range
of up to 350 miles, according to Honda.
At Honda’s Tochigi proving
ground, where we drove the new FCX, the only evidence of
all this advancement is a futuristic but spacious vehicle
that moves off briskly with a whisper of sound, accelerates
fairly quickly to highway cruising speeds, and continues
on to a top speed of 100 mph. Steering and ride quality
seemed to be typical of Honda products, with no sense of
large weight or unwieldiness in the admittedly limited confines
of a high-speed oval. With all the fuss made about fuel-cell
technology, it’s easy to forget that vehicles using
this energy source are just electric vehicles at heart,
with no exciting exhaust note or interesting transmissions
to light the enthusiast’s flame. Still, having 189
pound-feet of torque available from rest isn’t a bad
thing, and nor is a quiet powertrain or the all-important
zero-emissions operation. Honda is planning to market a
vehicle based on this FCX concept in limited numbers in
2008 in Japan and the U.S. Pricing and/or lease arrangements
for the new Honda have yet to be decided.
fiftyfiftyracing.com 2006
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