T Mac
11-28-2007, 05:03 AM
Amid all the noise from the Los Angeles auto show on everything from 100-mpg plug-in hybrids to two-mode hybrid trucks and sport/utility vehicles, Honda's plan to put its FCX Clarity fuel-cell vehicle on the street in mid 2008 may not seem all that earth-shattering.
But the company's announcement at the show is highly significant in the same way that putting the Honda Insight hybrid on the road back in 1999 was a big deal. With FCX Clarity, Honda moves fuel-cell mobility from laboratory experiment to real-world functionality. When these fuel-cell cars hit the road in Southern California next summer, there won't be a vanload of engineers and white-coated scientists following each one home to make sure it works. It'll just be the car and whoever is driving it--likely one of many early-technology adopters more than happy to plunk down $600 per month on a three-year lease (including maintenance and collision insurance) for the opportunity to be one of Honda's everyday guinea pigs.
Critics--no doubt those still laboring with fuel cells in the lab and at their hidden test centers--will call the FCX Clarity a publicity stunt and suggest that Honda actually risks harming a fuel-cell future by putting its car on the road before every detail is ironed out. Hogwash.
Click here (http://www.autoweek.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071120/FREE/311200002/1530/FREE) to read more from Bob Gritzinger's blog on Auto Week's site
But the company's announcement at the show is highly significant in the same way that putting the Honda Insight hybrid on the road back in 1999 was a big deal. With FCX Clarity, Honda moves fuel-cell mobility from laboratory experiment to real-world functionality. When these fuel-cell cars hit the road in Southern California next summer, there won't be a vanload of engineers and white-coated scientists following each one home to make sure it works. It'll just be the car and whoever is driving it--likely one of many early-technology adopters more than happy to plunk down $600 per month on a three-year lease (including maintenance and collision insurance) for the opportunity to be one of Honda's everyday guinea pigs.
Critics--no doubt those still laboring with fuel cells in the lab and at their hidden test centers--will call the FCX Clarity a publicity stunt and suggest that Honda actually risks harming a fuel-cell future by putting its car on the road before every detail is ironed out. Hogwash.
Click here (http://www.autoweek.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071120/FREE/311200002/1530/FREE) to read more from Bob Gritzinger's blog on Auto Week's site