23 Jun 08
Last week, the first of 200 Honda FCX Claritys came off a bespoke production line. With them came a fanfare of hype and publicity, the Japanese car company using the occasion to herald a 'New Generation of Motoring'.
The FCX Claritys will be shipped over to America where they will be leased by customers in America at the highly affordable price of $600 dollars a month: among them will be actress Jamie Lee Curtis and her filmmaker husband Christopher Guest.
So what's all the fuss about? Well, the FCX Clarity is a hydrogen fuel cell car built in the world's first dedicated fuel cell vehicle factory. It uses fuel stacks to create an electrochemical reaction between hydrogen and oxygen to convert chemical energy into electrical energy. That electrical energy is used to power a motor that drives the car's wheels.
As a fuel, therefore, hydrogen represents the pot of gold at the end of a rainbow: it emits nothing but water vapour and you don't have to worry about rogue nations replete with oil stocks holding the rest of the non-oil-producing nations to ransom.
