Honda FCX (hydrogen powered car) Prototype, a Few Figures

[Pliablemoose]

I'll start off by once again expressing my disappointment in not owning a flying hydrogen powered car, but barring that, here are some facts & figures on the 5 Honda FCX's that're being leased to the city of LA (I lifted the figures from Car & Driver, Csaba Csere's column from the March issue):

Model: Honda FCX
MSRP (Prototype): $1,600,000.00 (using economy of scale, the production models should go for $30-40,000)
Horsepower: 80
Torque: 201 lb-feet
Weight: 3,700 lb
Claimed Top Speed: 93 mph
Range: 170 miles

Refueling requirements
-5,000 psi stand alone station no costs given yet, primary source of hydrogen will be natural gas.
-Honda's built a solar powered hydrogen generating station @ Torrence, CA appx cost ~$40,000.00 which can provide one refill per week (8 kW- don't know how long it takes to generate 8 kW)

If solar cell & fuel cell manufacturing costs can be reduced by a factor of 10, it'll be a viable technology.

 

[xBopx]

I almost hope we run out of oil soon 😛

 

[Legendary]

Originally posted by: Bop
I almost hope we run out of oil soon 😛

Necessity is the mother of invention. 😀

 

[ElFenix]

electric motor?

 

[Evadman]

This car was talked about in this months car and driver. Cool stuff.

 

[KMurphy]

Natural gas is a by-product of oil.😕

Hydrogen is not easy to get in pure form, it takes a lot of existing energy to extract it.

And 8KW is not much energy to move a mass of 3700 lbs.

 

[Evadman]

Originally posted by: ElFenix
electric motor?

yes, powered by fuel cell.

 

[Pliablemoose]

Originally posted by: ElFenix
electric motor?

AC synchronous...

He said it was a dog above 40 mph & thought a two lane pass @ above 60 mph would be difficult.

 

[Kilgor]

I'd be happy if in the near future we would start swithing to Methanol or Ethanol just to ween ourselves from oil.

 

[Chadder007]

Originally posted by: KMurphy
Natural gas is a by-product of oil.😕

Hydrogen is not easy to get in pure form, it takes a lot of existing energy to extract it.

And 8KW is not much energy to move a mass of 3700 lbs.

Yep, still using oil. 🙁
Natural Gas prices will skyrocket also. Many people use it for supplying heat, cooking fuel, etc.....for house utils. I think it just needs to go all electric instead.

 

[Evadman]

Originally posted by: Chadder007

Originally posted by: KMurphy
Natural gas is a by-product of oil.😕

Hydrogen is not easy to get in pure form, it takes a lot of existing energy to extract it.

And 8KW is not much energy to move a mass of 3700 lbs.

Yep, still using oil. 🙁
Natural Gas prices will skyrocket also. Many people use it for supplying heat, cooking fuel, etc.....for house utils. I think it just needs to go all electric instead.

NG is so damn cheap now that most off shore rigs just burn it off instead of piping it to shore. a very large percentage of hydrogen (like 90%+) as made from domestic NG.

 

[ElFenix]

Originally posted by: Evadman

Originally posted by: Chadder007

Originally posted by: KMurphy
Natural gas is a by-product of oil.😕

Hydrogen is not easy to get in pure form, it takes a lot of existing energy to extract it.

And 8KW is not much energy to move a mass of 3700 lbs.

Yep, still using oil. 🙁
Natural Gas prices will skyrocket also. Many people use it for supplying heat, cooking fuel, etc.....for house utils. I think it just needs to go all electric instead.

NG is so damn cheap now that most off shore rigs just burn it off instead of piping it to shore. a very large percentage of hydrogen (like 90%+) as made from domestic NG.

that doesn't particularly mean its cheap, it means that its not cost effective to move it to shore

 

[Pliablemoose]

The big draw to hydrogen is electrolysis, or the production of hydrogen from water Here's a science project to demonstrate.

The Torrence, CA solar array that Honda built does this...