The New Honda FCX Concept Driving Experience

Honda FCX
Click to enlarge

During the Honda media trip to Japan for the 2007 Tokyo Motor Show, we also got to visit Honda’s Tochigi R&D Center where we got to see all kinds of interesting and embargoed things, heheh. But one of the experiences we had at Tochigi that I am allowed to write about at this time is my driving experience with both the current generation 3-door Honda FCX and the new Honda FCX Concept.

Read more on my experience with these fuel cell vehicles after the jump.

Honda FCX
Click to enlarge

The drive was nothing more than just a long rectangular lap around some cones placed on a big straight, but we weren’t there to test out the handling or comfort levels of the car or anything like that – this was not a test drive per say.

In real life, its huge, definitely looks like it dropped out of the sky from the future, and rather comfy inside. We drove left hand drive versions, and also had the opportunity to be in the passenger seats of the car. Rear legroom was excellent – it felt bigger than say, a 5-series. The car felt quite airy – likely the result of the huge window panels that included the little triangle between the A pillar and the front windows that isn’t really little anymore with the FCX Concept, and the light coloured interior.

The current generation “production” Honda FCX was a biggish 3-door hatchback that felt like a Honda FR-V with it’s butt chopped off and had you sit in a rather high seating position but sitting in the new FCX Concept just felt like you were driving a large and airy sedan. And a very quiet one at that.

At idle, all you hear is a little whiney buzz, kind of like the high pitch sound that computer power supplies make. Just shift into gear – this is a little Shift by Wire lever at your fingertips much like the 7-Series and S-Class and you’re good to go. With no noise at all, the car gracefully moves forward and you watch all the lights on the meter panel move around, responding to the differences in your throttle action in ways that could take some time to get used to and interpret. Our test drive time was definitely not enough to understand what was going on with the meter panel.

Honda FCX
Click to enlarge

Gun the throttle and the FCX really surges forward. We’re talking about 256Nm of torque – the equivalent of a 2.6 litre normally aspirated engine – across what you could consider a “rev range” – right from 0rpm. There’s plenty of pull yet with the most minimal amount of noise. It kind of feels like a very very high powered golf kart. We got up to highway speeds and eased off the pedal to maintain it those speeds with minimal power sent to the wheels, and the car was eeriely quiet. All you could hear is the tyres rolling.

Definitely where I could see cars going in the future, especially luxury cars. Because of how differently the whole driving experience is, it might be hard to imagine fuel cell or electric motor drive ever replacing the good old combustion engine when it comes to amateur motorsports though – it’s just not as fun. But it’s definitely a hell lot more refined and comfortable.

On to some technical specs – the Honda FCX Concept is quite an upgrade over the previous generation Honda FCX. Honda says it is 50% better power/volume density and 67% better power/weight density. The Honda FCX Concept goes up to a top speed of 160km/h, but definitely does so rather quick – this is probably just a gearing limitation.

It’s 171 litre hydrogen tank gives the car 570km of range, which is really quite enough for the car to be a daily driver and be used in normal conditions. The fuel cell stack puts out 100kW, or 134 horsepower for those who can’t think in kilowatts, but only 95kW makes it to the electric motors, or the equivalent of 127 horsepower. Three motors are used – an 80kW motor at the front axle and two 25kW motors each powering a rear wheel – this makes the Honda FCX Concept an all-wheel drive vehicle. The rest of the power is used to power ancillaries, I assume – but there might be other reasons. Energy is stored in a lithium ion battery.

Powering that battery is a new generation V Flow fuel cell platform. The V Flow PEFC (proton exchange membrane fuel cell) fuel cell stack is arranged in a center tunnel layout, which allowed the engineers to design the new FCX Concept as a low sedan instead of the previous high riding Honda FCX. This new V Flow stack is 20% smaller and 30% lighter than the current FCX fuel cell stack, but power output is 14kW higher. Also, more of this power goes to the electric motor – 15kW higher. The overall package is 180kg lighter than the one in the current FCX, or about 40% smaller.

The new V Flow fuel cell platform uses a vertical flowing fuel cell stack – now you know what V Flow means. This means it flows from top to bottom vertically. This allows gravity to assist with the fuel cell stack operation. The new fuel cell stack has also had its low temperature startup improved – cold weather starts can now be done at -30 degrees Celcius, which is a 10 degree Celcius improvement over the current FCX fuel stack.

As with all hydrogen fuel cell vehicles – exhaust output is drinkable water.

The whole problem with Fuel Cell technology is the availability of refuelling stations, which is just about non existant at the moment. But Honda CEO Takeo Fukui says someone has to make the first step – it’s a whole chicken and egg thing. When the Model T was first introduced a long time ago, there were no fuel stations as well, but look where we are now.

A limited run production version of this new Honda FCX Concept will be released in 2008 for leasing to certain customers.

Honda FCX
Click to enlarge

Honda FCX

Honda FCX

Honda FCX

Honda FCX

Honda FCX

Honda FCX

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Paul Tan

After dabbling for years in the IT industry, Paul Tan initially began this site as a general blog covering various topics of personal interest. With an increasing number of readers paying rapt attention to the motoring stories, one thing led to another and the rest, as they say, is history.

 

Comments

  • Xoomie (Member) on Nov 07, 2007 at 11:58 am

    is this an MPV ?

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
  • Paul Tan on Nov 07, 2007 at 12:03 pm

    no its a normal sedan

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  • gonggok (Member) on Nov 07, 2007 at 12:08 pm

    The future isn’t fuel cells, it’s going to be batteries…

    But Honda as usual covers all the bases.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
  • Paul Tan on Nov 07, 2007 at 12:16 pm

    there are issues with batteries. in a fuel cell, you have one small battery and a fuel cell stack to charge it up from hydrogen fuel. in an electric car, you need to have many many batteries to have the same 570km range as this FCX – and everyone knows the materials used in batteries are not exactly that environmentally friendly.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 0
  • wildthingz (Member) on Nov 07, 2007 at 12:29 pm

    so jelous at u paul u can ride on that car meh? so lucky do u think taht sedan will be at malaysia market ??

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  • paxter (Member) on Nov 07, 2007 at 12:30 pm

    i want one :D

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
  • wildthingz (Member) on Nov 07, 2007 at 12:31 pm

    during ur visit to tokyo do u have any pic for weird cool concept i like concept very much lor

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  • gonggok (Member) on Nov 07, 2007 at 1:09 pm

    Paul, with the current advances in batteries you can get a LOT of range. Batteries can be recycled. The issue is Hydrogen has to come from somewhere – it’s more efficient instead to use the energy used to create hydrogen to simply charge the battery.

    Plus with advances is batteries AND new solar cells – you can generate your own electricity and free youself from petrol/hydrogen stations…

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
  • Paul Tan on Nov 07, 2007 at 1:11 pm

    there are manufacturers who say battery technology is not really there yet – especially GM, who says that is one of the things thats holding it back from producing its very well received chevrolet volt concept

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
  • TheDuck (Member) on Nov 07, 2007 at 1:27 pm

    HONDA. Always the best. I hope the 9th gen civic looks like this.

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  • kei9 (Member) on Nov 07, 2007 at 2:06 pm

    Saw this @ last years KLMS…its nice.

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  • proton.GL.. (Member) on Nov 07, 2007 at 4:39 pm

    energy have by product,
    the cleanest nuclear energy have radioactive,
    recycling need energy, also create by product,

    but its a bit manageable waste, without release as fumes, still have risk to it,

    probally we need car directly connected to power line with hydroelectric current,

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
  • freeze (Member) on Nov 07, 2007 at 5:36 pm

    Maybe we will be using wireless charged cars. No need to stop and charge just use your car and receive the bill at the end of the month.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
  • armandd (Member) on Nov 07, 2007 at 5:49 pm

    what’s the drag coefficient of this car? it looks very aerodynamic.

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  • SupaCarFan (Member) on Nov 07, 2007 at 8:17 pm

    Smart, simple and neat

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
  • mirsara (Member) on Nov 07, 2007 at 8:32 pm

    the new city will look like this. (Information was reveal in thailand – A pillar and C pillar will follow the civic, front will look like civic euro, airwave and oddysey) – bad news for vios

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
  • wsoonlye (Member) on Nov 07, 2007 at 8:33 pm

    This is fantastic……Rival Toyota give some response……..

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
  • renyeo (Member) on Nov 07, 2007 at 9:09 pm

    The FCX has an interesting “reversal” 1.5 box design – the boot being the other half.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
  • BigFish (Member) on Nov 07, 2007 at 9:43 pm

    Aiya, don’t know how to comment this techci concept car lah!

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
  • ah liew (Member) on Nov 07, 2007 at 10:52 pm

    eh! when can our Potong become fuel cell car ah…? petrol prices are so high nowadays :(

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  • mystvearn (Member) on Nov 08, 2007 at 12:47 am

    Hopefully 10 years on, it will be mass produced…

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  • 4G63T DSM (Member) on Nov 08, 2007 at 12:30 pm

    I would still bet on Batteries than fuel cells. Fuel cells are heavy and complex powerunit that I think its still a long way from practical application. And, on top of that, you have issues with the distribution and storage of hydrogen.

    If you run out of hydrogen, you are SOL (you are not likely to carry a refillable hydrogen canister with you like you would fill up a 5L jerry can), if you run out of battery charge, well, just plug in and wait. Electrical distribution is still way more mature than hydrogen will ever be. In colder climates where the cold severely effects the efficientcy of batteries, perhaps I can see hydrogen take off.

    New generation li-ion batteries give amazing performance (that is as long as they dont burn up).

    Case in point is the Tesla Roadster. They are also working on a production 4 door battery powered sedan. Might see it very soon.

    @Freeze

    Thats not unlikely. Even the old GM EV1 uses induction charging. I’m sure you can park the car on a area and it charges itself overnight. No need to plug in.

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  • auctioncenter2u (Member) on Nov 08, 2007 at 6:24 pm

    What a LUCKY BOY who can visit Tokyo Motor Show for FREE!

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  • jamsbong (Member) on Nov 08, 2007 at 8:26 pm

    i wonder how much is this gonna cost and where can I get some decent amount of hydrogen?
    I’d say thanks to the reviewer for giving us the insight of this car. I’m not jealous of it coz everyone has he/her place.

    As much as I love the environment, I can’t imagine this car being FUN. Nothing beats of lively breathing internal combustion engine. Honestly, I prefer the internal combustion engine and I believe using biofuel, non of us would need to switch to some fancy battery car.

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  • szw (Member) on Nov 08, 2007 at 10:52 pm

    electric car…

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  • mitlanevo (Member) on Nov 08, 2007 at 11:51 pm

    very very nice!!

    hope to see this car on the roads soon….

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
  • kohbk (Member) on Nov 09, 2007 at 1:09 pm

    when are they coming out with nuclear powered cars dun need to refuel/charge ever !

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  • kei9 (Member) on Dec 21, 2007 at 12:38 am

    nuclear is pretty volatile..Its a big no no.. ^^”

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