Clarity for the Honda Brand

With "green" being an ongoing theme at the 2007 Los Angeles Auto Show, it was fitting that Honda would choose this venue to debut the all-new FCX Clarity. With styling very similar to the FCX concept that followed the auto show circuit over the last 12 months, the Clarity is a zero-emission electric vehicle powered by Honda's latest-generation hydrogen fuel-cell system.

The Japan-based automaker has made a number of technological advances since the last version of the fuel cell-advances that have made it possible to build a vehicle as sleek as the Clarity.

Typically a fuel-cell vehicle needs to be large in order to provide space for the hydrogen fuel tank as well as the fuel-cell stack. The stack produces electricity by combining hydrogen and oxygen and then harnessing the chemical energy from the reaction.

Honda's new fuel-cell stack is 65 percent smaller than the previous version while making more power. And although the FCX Clarity is full of advanced technology, one of the most noteworthy is the first commercial use of a highly efficient lithium-ion battery pack that stores excess energy from the fuel cell. The Clarity also is capable of running in extremely warm and cold temperatures.

The FCX Clarity is expected to achieve the equivalent of 68 mpg with a range of 270 miles. Next summer Honda will make this advanced fuel-cell vehicle available to a limited number of retail customers in Southern California. Cars will be leased for three years at a cost of $600 per month, which includes maintenance and collision insurance.

One of the biggest hurdles to more widespread use of fuel-cell cars is the lack of infrastructure-there are very few places to fill a car with hydrogen. But Honda is working on a solution.

The fourth generation of the experimental Home Energy Station was on display at the L.A. show, and when it reaches production it will have the potential to change the way we live.

Hooked up to a home's natural gas line, the Home Energy Station would convert natural gas to hydrogen for filling a fuel-cell vehicle. But a byproduct of that process would supply the home with heat and electricity, reducing energy costs both at home and on the road.