Honda is not giving up on hydrogen fuel cell technology and will introduce it on the CR-V.
Today, American, European, and Chinese car companies have gone all-in on battery electric vehicles and not without controversy. Battery electric vehicles do not completely solve energy-related issues. Their batteries are extremely costly to the manufacturers and to the environment as well. Plus, the energy that goes into the batteries during charging may not be so green. That is part of the reason why Honda and many other manufacturers are still investing heavily in hydrogen fuel cell vehicles as an alternative to battery electric vehicles. In fact, Honda will be integrating their hydrogen fuel cell techology into the new CR-V model in 2024.
Why Hydrogen? What Benefits Does It Have Over Batteries?
Hydrogen fuel cells have many advantages over batteries despite not being very popular. First of all, hydrogen fuel can be produced by renewable energy generators using just water and electricity. When these generators have excess capacity, that excess can be used to created hydrogen fuel.
When the generators are not producing enough electricity, then the hydrogen fuel is put through the fuel cell to produce electricity. They’re also much more energy dense than batteries and can be easily transported or stored or filled into a fuel tank of a vehicle. Hydrogen fuel cells emit only water when they produce electricity.
Honda’s History With Hydrogen Fuel Cell Technology
Honda first began conducting research and development into fuel cells in the 2nd half of the 1990s. They had a prototype based on the first-generation Odyssey with seats only at the front. The rest of the vehicle had been filled with the experimental fuel cell components. By 2022, Honda had figured out how to miniaturize the components for production and they introduced the Honda FCX in Japan and the US with limited availability. In 2008, the FCX Clarity was introduced as the world’s first mass-produced hydrogen fuel cell vehicle. In 2016, the entire fuel cell unit was downsized to fit under the hood of the Clarity Fuel Cell. Now, the packaging has advanced to the point where it can be fit under the hood of a CR-V.
