Honda Motor Co., the first carmaker certified to sell fuel-cell automobiles in the United States, will begin leasing its new Clarity model to consumers next year as the company races to start a market for hydrogen vehicles.
The $600-a-month Clarity, based on the prototype FCX sports car Honda unveiled in 2006, will be offered in California to take advantage of a network of hydrogen fueling stations being built across the state.
The Clarity "will be the first fuel cell car to be placed in the hands of individual consumers," Tetsuo Iwamura, president of U.S. operations for Japan's second-largest automaker, said in a press conference at the Los Angeles Auto Show.
The leasing plan will help Tokyo-based Honda challenge Toyota Motor Corp., which has sold a million gasoline-electric Prius hybrids, for the lead in economical, low-pollution autos. California is developing a Hydrogen Highway Network to serve fuel-cell vehicles, expanding the number of hydrogen stations from about 20 now to more than 100 in the next few years.
Fuel cells, typically layers of plastic, carbon fiber and metals such as platinum, create electricity in a chemical process that combines hydrogen and oxygen. Ideally, water vapor is the only byproduct.
Honda's Clarity has a top speed of 100 miles an hour and will travel as far as 270 miles when fully fueled, the company said Wednesday. The car will lease for three years at $600 a month, said Dan Bonawitz, Honda's vice president of product planning in the United States.
$3-a-gallon gasoline
Gasoline prices at more than $3 a gallon and government efforts to curb pollution tied to global warming are pushing carmakers to offer alternatives to conventionally powered vehicles.
Still, the cost of fuel-cell vehicles, estimated by Honda engineers to exceed $1 million a car, and the need for cheap, clean hydrogen production, storage and distribution, have made them a long-term alternative to gasoline-powered autos.
Since 2002 Honda has leased about 20 early-generation FCX cars to fleet operators in Los Angeles, New York and other U.S. cities, and to two individuals in California.
Honda's fuel-cell cars passed U.S. safety and emissions requirements five years ago, ahead of competitors General Motors Corp. and Toyota, which also lease hydrogen-fueled autos to universities, governments and companies.