Hydrogen Cluster
Honda is far from the only automaker developing a hydrogen test fleet. BMW has been loaning its Hydrogen 7 - a big sedan that can burn either gasoline or hydrogen in an internal combustion engine - to the likes of actor Will Ferrell.
GM has been recruiting people to test its fuel-cell Chevrolet Equinox in California, suburban New York and Washington, D.C. And while celebs will take part, the GM selection process appears to be more democratic: Customers are largely being chosen from the general public, based on their participation on the company's Project Driveway Web site devoted to hydrogen issues.
It's hard to blame Honda or any other automaker that's trying to steal some green ink from Toyota. If you don't make big promises, no one's interested.
As I've reported previously, Ben Knight, Honda's U.S. research-and-development chief, estimates that Honda is targeting the year 2018 to bring affordable fuel-cell cars to dealers. Yet Honda knows better than to emphasize the point that its hydrogen cars are at least a decade away. Doing so would scare away the TV producers and editors who are desperate for feel-good stories on green cars. But this technology hype does a disservice to consumers who want real solutions to $4-a-gallon gas.
Even if Honda or GM can lick the huge technical and cost issues of hydrogen cars, I'm not convinced they're the best approach to getting us off gasoline. Stories on fuel cells tend to paint hydrogen as a free lunch. But it takes massive amounts of energy to create usable hydrogen fuel. Theoretically, the source of that hydrogen could be clean, as in nuclear, wind or solar energy. But it's just as likely to be dirty, using electricity from coal-fired plants.
Will fully electric cars beat hydrogen to the punch?
Certainly proponents of electric cars and plug-in hybrids have their own axes to grind. But the creators of the electric Tesla Roadster have asked a great question: What's the point of using electricity to create hydrogen, trucking it to stations and pumping it into a car, just so the car can convert hydrogen back into electricity? Why not just put the electricity directly into cars?
One answer is batteries aren't yet efficient enough to let cars travel long distances, but that's likely to change as automakers race to develop plug-ins juiced by lithium-ion batteries. I wish Honda and others well in their efforts to make fuel cells a reality. But years of fuel-cell promises have convinced me that hydrogen will lose the tech race.
My prediction? By the time fuel-cell cars are available at a price a non-zillionaire can afford, other technologies - whether plug-in hybrid, diesel hybrids or pure electric cars - will have beaten it to the punch. When everyday drivers can afford a plug-in that tops 100 mpg, they won't need to think about hydrogen cars - or how to become rich and famous enough to get one.
Lawrence Ulrich lives in Brooklyn and writes about cars. His reviews and features appear regularly in The New York Times, Popular Science, Men's Vogue and Travel + Leisure Golf.