Honda's New Fuel Cell Vehicle Uses the Company's Own Fuel Cell Stacks

Honda (Japan) has equipped its latest FCX-V3 fuel cell vehicle with a Honda-designed fuel cell stack, instead of one developed by Ballard Power Systems Inc. (Vancouver, BC). Ballard's fuel cell stacks powered earlier Honda FCX versions, including the FCX-V1 introduced in 1999.

The new vehicle has joined the fleet of vehicles participating in the California Fuel Cell Partnership's (CaFCP, West Sacramento, CA) public highway demonstration program. It seats up to four persons and features a startup time of 10 seconds. Honda claims that the vehicle's operation is quieter than previous models, and that its ultracapacitor contributes to acceleration performance as well as efficient energy management.

“Honda believes that the fuel cell offers tremendous potential as a high-efficiency automotive powerplant," commented Ben Knight, vice president of Honda Research and Development. “We will continue to pursue fuel cell vehicle development with stacks of Honda's own design and others."