Honda FCX Clarity Hydrogen fuel cell car FAQs with Robert Llewellyn

John Kingston, Environment Manager at Honda (UK) discusses the burning questions around the Honda FCX Clarity fuel cell electric car - which only emits water, no harmful gasses - with self-confessed eco car geek (and TV presenter) Robert Llewellyn.

Partial transcript:


John Kingston, Environment Manager at Honda (UK), discusses the burning questions around the Honda FCX Clarity fuel cell electric car - which only emits water, no harmful gases - with self-confessed eco car geek (and TV presenter) Robert Llewellyn.

Robert: "The fuel cell is this kind of mystery object. It's almost like 'Back to the Future'. It's the thing with tubes going in that does stuff and electricity comes out. And I mean, it's certainly technology that's beyond my understanding."

John: "Well, it's essentially - the great thing about Hydrogen fuel cell technology is you produce electricity onboard, so we have the Hydrogen tank, within which is compressed Hydrogen. And that Hydrogen combines with Oxygen in the fuel cell. A chemical reaction takes place between those two gases, and electricity is produced. And that electricity powers an electric motor, which propels the vehicle. So it's not like Hydrogen itself is going through an internal combustion engine - it's the electricity that's produced from the fuel cell which powers the electric motor."

Robert: "The big questions that I've come across regarding Hydrogen fuel cell cars are 1. the cost of the Hydrogen fuel cell, which I know at the moment is quite expensive! And then the second is the supply of Hydrogen - where the Hydrogen comes from and how it's stored and moved and - where you produce the Hydrogen from.

John: "Well maybe if we go back a stage - in terms of looking at the different types. We think in general there's going to be these two types of technologies. There's going to be battery electric vehicles where the electricity is generated from the grid, plugged in and charges up the battery. And then we'll have fuel cell electric vehicles as an alternative technology whereby the electricity is generated onboard. As the car industry, rightly we're being challenged to bring low carbon technologies and to really move the game on. But sometimes we create this amazing technology such as the Clarity - zero emissions - and then people turn around and say "Yeah, but you're still using energy to create the fuel". And yes we are currently, but there is an opportunity to produce it in a renewable way.

Even if energy's being used, we need to remember that there's a whole amount of energy and muck being produced in creating petrol and diesel at the moment. But we're trying to move the game on and producing a zero-emission car - that really is moving the game on! And with the potential to produce fuel in a sustainable way as well."

Robert: "The essential thing is that you don't have to go for instance to South America or Iceland to get Hydrogen! And I think that's a really key point. You can get Hydrogen right out there. Once you've understood that, you can then say 'Well, the energy to create that Hydrogen, we have a huge choice of how we create that energy."

John: "To a degree, that's one of the benefits of Hydrogen technology. There are a huge range of ways in which Hydrogen can be produced. The 'greenness' of electricity production - and again we know that there are a variety of ways in which electricity can be produced - we can produce it from coal-fired power stations, which aren't particularly green, or at the other extreme, you can produce electricity from renewable sources. If we were to use electricity that's produced from renewable sources to create the Hydrogen, there are essentially zero to very few emissions. You put that Hydrogen into a fuel cell vehicle and there's zero emissions, so we have a pretty much sustainable loop.

At the moment, over 56 million tonnes of Hydrogen are produced each year, currently. So there's already a huge industry producing Hydrogen. It's not used for vehicles."

Robert: "So what other uses - is it used in industrial processes?"

John: "Frankly, I don't really know!"

Robert: "But a lot of people need a lot of Hydrogen."

John: "Already there's 56 million tonnes"

Robert: "56 million tonnes - because Hydrogen is incredibly light, that's a lot of Hydrogen!"

John: "Exactly. If we look at emissions from vehicles, there's two types of emissions. There's the well to tank, so the amount of environmental cost in generating fuel, and then there is the tank to wheel, so the amount of energy or the environmental cost of using that fuel to propel the vehicle."

Category:

Autos & Vehicles

Tags:

• Honda
• FCX
• Clarity
• hydrogen
• fuel
• cell
• electric
• car
• Robert
• Llewellyn
• vehicle
• zero
• emissions
• H2O
• eco
• co2
• cars

[TheOneNo20]

@DSDMovies I'm quite sure that you can just top up a hydrogen tank in a matter of minutes, that's one of the main selling points. Conversely, how long does it take to recharge a battery?

[DSDMovies]

@TheOneNo20 But all you have to do to recharge the battery is recharge it. There are already a few places to do that, and certainly far more battery recharge points than hydrogen fuel cell top up points. Considering hydrogen is stored at such high pressure, I'm not even sure if you can just fill up, or have to replace the tank.

[daswada9]

Hydrogen is safer then gasoline

[kimstockton]

this guy's dodging questions left, right, and center, meh.

[TheOneNo20]

I'm a die hard petrol head so I like to think that I have an objective opinion on this subject. I would say that having to choose between battery & fuel cell vehicles I would choose the fuel cell every time because when I run low on range all I need to do is fill up with more hydrogen. I hear ideas of replaceable batteries etc however from an environmental, technical & financial view this just seems very unrealistic. When where & for how long you want is the entire point of personal transport.

[venyusz01]

BEV is ready to use. By the way, if they are pushing hydrogen,well use it in public transport! Anything but fossil fuels

[rainbowsalads]

@PlanetTesla absolutely but he's is being paid and will be paid more y see. he's almost drooling out his mouth.

with nano batteries and battery swap stations, bye bye inefficient hydrogen. i can not beleive bobby let him go off on one .

[pvtjamesryan3]

@PlanetTesla

According to Honda's website, the battery in the car is only "supplemental", unlike the battery you find in the EV or any other electric car. That's why its size is small.

[PlanetTesla]

@pvtjamesryan3 The Honda Clarity is driven by a battery just like a regular EV. it also uses a hydrogen fuel cell battery to charge the battery and contribute to propulsion. Remember hydrogen fuel cells only really work with a steady flow of hydrogen, they're not able to manage the kind of demands placed on a road car without the reserves of a battery. What I don't understand is why Honda doesn't replace the fuel cell with more battery; they'd have a great car!

[pvtjamesryan3]

@PlanetTesla

The Honda Clarity is a Hydrogen fuel cell car.

There is no battery.