Something new has come along, might replace the IC engine....
Honda unveils hydrogen-powered car.
The Wall Street Journal (6/17, B4, Takahashi, subscription required) reports that Honda Motor Co. on Monday "unveiled the latest generation of fuel-cell vehicle." The company "will begin leasing the third generation of a fuel-cell model called FCX Clarity in the U.S. in July. The company plans to lease the new zero-emission car in Japan this autumn." However, Honda President Takeo Fukui warned that "prices have to fall further for fuel-cell cars to reach the mass market." The Journal notes that a "lack of hydrogen service stations, among other factors, is limiting demand for [fuel-cell] cars, and therefore carmakers can't mass produce them, keeping production costs high."
Focusing on Honda's FCX Clarity, the New York Times (6/17, C1, Fackler) reports on the front of its Business Day section that the Clarity is "the world's first hydrogen-powered fuel-cell vehicle intended for mass production." Honda will only produce "200 of the futuristic vehicles over the next three years, but said it eventually planned to increase production volumes, especially as hydrogen filling stations became more common."
USA Today /AP (6/17, 10B, Hosaka) notes that the "FCX Clarity is an improvement of its previous-generation fuel-cell vehicle, the FCX, introduced in 2005." Honda said a "breakthrough in the design of the fuel-cell stack, which is the unit that powers the car's motor, allowed engineers to lighten the body, expand the interior and increase efficiency." Now the car "has a range of about 270 miles a tank with hydrogen consumption equivalent to 74 miles per gallon." The Clarity's "fuel cell draws on energy synthesized through a chemical reaction between hydrogen gas and oxygen in the air, and a lithium-ion battery pack provides supplemental power."
The AFP (6/17) adds that Honda "is producing the cars at what it describes as 'the world's first dedicated fuel-cell vehicle manufacturing facility' in this town in Tochigi prefecture north of Tokyo." The automaker "already has 35 previous generation fuel-cell vehicles on lease contracts, mostly with Japanese and U.S. public institutions. It hopes the new version will have more widespread appeal."
In addition to the Clarity, Fukui announced that "Honda may produce hybrid cars in an emerging market by the middle of the next decade," Bloomberg (6/17, Komatsu, Kitamura) reports. "Specifically, producing a hybrid Civic model in Thailand may be an option because emerging markets have high import duties on cars, he said." Honda "currently builds gasoline-engine Civics in Thailand." The BBC (6/17), the Detroit News (6/17), New York's Sun (6/17), the U.K.'s Scotsman (6/17, Dalton), and Business First of Columbus (6/17) also cover the story.