HONDA

From hybrids to natural gas to hydrogen, Honda has long been at the forefront in the exploration and development of next-generation powerplants and alternative fuel sources, in the quest to help reduce the demand for fossil fuels and slow global warming.Nothing, however, intrigues the technologically curious and environmentally conscious quite like the future development—and more important, mass consumer-level availability—of Honda’s revolutionary zero-emission hydrogen fuel cell system.First delivered in limited supply to U.S. and Japanese customers in December 2002 in the form of the FCX fuel cell vehicle (a world’s first at the time), it was just 10 months later, in October 2003, that Honda announced the development of the “Honda FC Stack,” a next-generation fuel cell capable of starting at subfreezing temperatures.

With this high-output but much more compact fuel cell stack, it’s possible to start the vehicle at 20 degrees below zero centigrade (-4ºF), a task that had proved difficult with traditional fluorine-based electrolyte membranes. After receiving approval from Japan’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport in late 2003, the FC Stack underwent numerous starting tests in sub-zero conditions in addition to driving tests on public roads at low temperatures.