Honda’s hydrogen automobile is an engineering achievement. It’s a technological surprise, a proof of idea for a expertise that absolutely has some form of future, albeit a hazy one. However it’s at present untenable as a shopper product, with an unreliable fueling community that’s solely out there in California (the place it’s additionally absurdly costly), and a lease-only shopping for scheme that obscures simply how costly it truly is. Honda promised on the launch that the issues are being labored out and that hydrogen will play a key position in the way forward for transportation.
I’m speaking, after all, in regards to the 2002 Honda FCX. Or possibly I’m speaking in regards to the 2008 Honda FCX Readability. Or the 2017 Honda Readability Gasoline Cell. However the identical can be true for the 2025 Honda CR-V e:FCEV, its new plug-in hybrid gas cell automobile. The names change, however the story doesn’t. Within the 22 years since Honda first leased the FCX to town of Los Angeles, the argument for a hydrogen automobile hasn’t gotten higher. It’s gotten a lot worse.
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In 2002 and 2008, the idea of long-range journey in a hydrogen-powered gentle automobile was compelling. The world was vaguely conscious of the necessity for a extra sustainable type of transportation, and the idea of a “long-range, sensible EV” was extraordinary. However in 2024, the CR-V e:FCEV’s 270-mile vary would make it just about common amongst 2WD compact electrical SUVs. Honda’s personal (should you can name it that) Prologue can cowl 296 miles on a full battery, and might refill that vary outdoors of California.
So it’s finest to not contemplate the CR-V e:FCEV as a standard plug-in hybrid as a result of it doesn’t fill the identical position. A RAV4 Prime is designed for zero-emission operation round city, with a gas-burner for longer drives and instances whenever you don’t have entry to energy. Have your electrical commuting, and your highway journeys too.
The e:FCEV is completely different. Each items of its powertrain are zero-emission, and neither works for many highway journeys but. The 29-mile vary you get on a full battery is designed to deal with most of your each day commuting, with 240 miles of hydrogen-powered vary to cowl longer days. The concept is to cut back reliance on hydrogen alone, so a niche in filling stations or a gas provide disaster doesn’t brick the automobile.
That is Honda’s try and plug the hole till hydrogen infrastructure turns into extra dependable and out there. However the firm struggles to elucidate who this automobile could be good for. Jay Joseph, vp of sustainability and enterprise improvement at American Honda, mentioned it was focused at “Californian patrons with entry to retail hydrogen.” I’ll broaden that definition. It’s for individuals in San Fransisco, Los Angeles, San Diego, and Sacramento who desire a zero-emission automobile with a 300-mile vary however don’t need that automobile to be totally electrical, for some purpose.
Consumers should even be comfy with hydrogen costs, that are at present within the $35-a-kg vary, making the hydrogen CR-V over 3 times as costly to gas as a standard, non-hybrid CR-V. Filling the CR-V’s gas tank from empty would run you about $140 for 240 miles of vary. That is additionally assuming you will get it, which is not all the time simple. There’ll absolutely be a free gas provide, as there all the time is with hydrogen vehicles, however the marketplace for this product is tiny. Honda’s hand-building CR-V e:FCEVs on the similar manufacturing facility the place it constructed the second-generation NSX, and expects to promote “north of 300 items” yearly, per Joseph.
The CR-V e:FCEV can export as much as 1.5 kW of energy via its cost port.
So just like the Readability Gasoline Cell, and the FCX Readability earlier than it, and the FCX earlier than that, that is extra of a tech demonstrator than a shopper product. If just a few hundred fanatics wish to lease one to assist help the event of the expertise, nice. However the main aim for Honda is to point out individuals what’s potential with hydrogen and proceed growing each the provision of retail hydrogen and the demand for it.
The primary aim is vital, as a result of—as the corporate has constantly discovered over 22 years of experimenting—it can not create a hydrogen market alone, and positively not via light-duty autos by themselves. The corporate needs to persuade governments, gas suppliers, industrial prospects, trucking companies, and others to put money into the way forward for hydrogen. It confirmed us a backup generator for its information middle that’s constructed from previous-generation Readability Gasoline Cell stacks, and touted its cope with JAXA—Japan’s NASA—to develop hydrogen infrastructure in area. It’s working with Isuzu to check a prototype semi truck on public roads in Japan this 12 months, and can present a U.S.-market Class 8 truck proof of idea someday quickly.
A CR-V e:FCEV in entrance of one in every of Honda’s hydrogen back-up turbines, which makes use of Readability Gasoline Cell stacks.
The probabilities are infinite. The truth is disappointing. The economics don’t work, and so they gained’t any time quickly. Honda has not introduced pricing for the CR-V e:FCEV but, and when it does it’s going to announce what’s going to virtually definitely be a extremely backed lease. The Readability Gasoline Cell went for $369 a month for 36 months, with $2,499 due at signing when it was launched again in 2017. That meant the client paid $15,783 over three years. The deal included $15,000 of free gas, and 21 days of free luxurious rental vehicles for highway journeys. Whenever you’re charging $15,000 and giving $15,000 of perks on high of the automobile, it’s clear that you may’t be in it for the cash. And because the automakers have additionally discovered with EVs, the fueling companions simply are usually not stepping up on their very own; not can automobile firms count on Shell and Exxon to handle their greatest challenges.
The free gas is important as a result of hydrogen costs are 3 times increased than Honda’s long-term goal for a stable market: $12 per kilogram. The gas makes hydrogen autos far dearer to function than gasoline ones, even accounting for hydrogen’s increased effectivity. Their gas tanks must be a lot larger, which suggests the CR-V loses roughly 1 / 4 of it’s cargo space in comparison with an internal-combustion mannequin.
And Honda completely won’t disclose something about how way more costly gas cell autos are to construct. We tried asking about tough concepts. Or aAbout the previous-generation automobile’s margin. Or any comparability they may make that might shine any gentle on how far we’re from price parity.
“You may ask the identical query a number of methods and we are able to proceed to not reply it,” Joseph mentioned, throughout a tense Q&A session with journalists on the e:FCEV launch. The strain had nothing to do with Joseph, or the automobile, or the occasion, however with the acquainted frustrations of making an attempt to report on hydrogen automobile improvement.
We’re instructed that the corporate is conscious of the issues, however that it’s not their job to construct infrastructure, or that it’s and so they’ve dedicated some unknown sum that shall be used to construct three extra stations within the handful of cities the place these vehicles even exist. They speak about cleanliness, and carbon and by no means point out that just about all of our hydrogen is generated utilizing fossil fuels. We’re given imprecise guarantees about issues getting cheaper, and extra accessible, however no timeline for such issues taking place. Then they introduce a brand new technology, and the method repeats.
The e:FCEV has “cost,” “save,” “EV,” and “auto” modes to inform the automobile the way you need it to handle the traction battery.
These firms are usually not deceptive us. This expertise goes someplace. Ask most transportation analysts and executives and so they’ll all say that business autos, long-haul vehicles and the like will want a renewable gas supply that may be refilled rapidly with out inflicting long-term deterioration. Hydrogen continues to point out outstanding promise there. Nobody needs to must juice a semi truck with a 1200kW charger the dimensions of a home. In a zero-emissions world, it’s a chunk of the puzzle.
We don’t but reside in a zero-emissions world, although. We reside in a single the place fossil fuels are low cost, out there and trusted. Electrical autos nonetheless have to beat hesitation and adoption issues, however they have been spurred alongside by an simple fact: EVs are far, far cheaper to run than inside combustion autos. Hydrogen autos are usually not. No person needs to purchase them till they’re, and so they’re not going to get cheaper till individuals purchase them. The phrases “hen” and “egg” find yourself getting thrown round lots. Similar with EVs, however there’s electrical energy all over the place.
Honda added a detachable shelf attachment to show the cargo space’s hump right into a flat load ground.
That world of hydrogen vehicles and energy storage amenities will doubtless come to cross. If and when fossil fuels get banned, and if and once we begin producing hydrogen in a clear approach, it’s our greatest possibility for high-density, quick-refilling renewable gas. However Honda was 30 or 40 years early when it began on this drawback again within the early 2000s, and it’s nonetheless early now. Within the meantime, your complete electrical automobile revolution has began and reached maturity, and Honda missed the primary boat. So there may be some lingering frustration, some feeling that if the corporate hadn’t spent a lot brainpower on chasing light-duty hydrogen adoption it may very well be extra aggressive immediately.
Honda executives admit they don’t know when this shall be commercially viable at scale. The corporate can’t predict the longer term, and neither can I. I can’t inform you when or how hydrogen will turn out to be economically viable. All I do know is that, in the meanwhile, I don’t must care about it. Amongst all of the imprecise guarantees and the dodged questions, there may be one fact: We gained’t have a hydrogen revolution any time quickly.