Auto Transportation

Posts Tagged ‘FCX’

It is no surprise that amidst the increasingly larger hikes in fuel prices driven by the fact that the planet’s supply of petroleum is dissipating, the automotive industry is feeling the pinch more than any other. With many companies falling or are already fallen, the surviving ones are now wisely channeling their resources in developing vehicles which run on alternative fuel and the most popular choice is clearly the hybrid.

Hybrids are the first forms of cars to battle the ongoing fuel crisis. Evidently, the name which pops up anywhere across the world when the term hybrid is brought up is the Toyota Prius. This is mainly because the Prius was the first hybrid vehicle to be built in masses as they have proven among all the other alternative fuel concepts during the late 90s and early years of the new millennium to be the most practical and applicable in real world situations. Basically, hybrids are cars which run on the usual gasoline with the difference being the addition of an extra fuel supply, most commonly in the form of electricity which gets supplied from battery cells. While the Prius has been dominating over all these years, many other hybrids are available on the road today but one of the most notable cars in this segment is the upcoming second generation of Honda’s Insight, a hybrid car designed and engineered specifically to go up against the Prius in a blatant one on one.

While the idea of electric cars have always been a point of discussion but not so in application due to cost and practicality issues, they are hitting the roads lately and one of the one model swarming roads the most across the globe is possibly the Reva G-Whiz. Being under lots of controversy in the automotive industry due to its minimalist nature which is considered unsafe and not up to the standards of being a car, this tiny two-seater from India is in fact labeled as a quadtricycle in markets like the UK’s. On a more fast and furious note, the Tesla Roadster, an electric sports car borrowing the body of Lotus’ well-proven Elise’. While this car is earning rave reviews for its performance despite its electric underpinnings, many are expressing their doubts over the durability and sustainability of the electric cells that power not only the Tesla, but other electric vehicles alike.

Over the years, there have been debates about hybrids not being as good as people are made to think and the technology of electric cars as yet being simply impractical for normal usage. Diesel cars have gained in popularity due to this combined with rising prices at the pumps as cars such as Volkswagen’s entry level green car, the Polo Bluemotion, has on many tests and occasions proved that it can easily dwarf the mpg ratings of a Toyota Prius. Electric vehicles cannot be considered as economical or environmental either as most of our electricity supply comes from plants which burn petroleum to generate the electricity as well.

With ever changing takes on alternative fuel, Honda has made a breakthrough of late, introducing the Honda FCX Clarity, a car which runs of hydrogen and with the debates still going strong on alternative fuel vehicles, the technology Honda is implementing here might be the most significant yet in this battle as hydrogen is unlike the rest, an element which is never likely to run out. Only the world of tomorrow shall tell.

With the big three already deep in the doo doo, is the Chevy Volt the answer to General Motors problems or will it prove to be the final nail in the manufacturers coffin.

Much has been made of the Chevy Volt, a plug-in electric hybrid. GM sees this idea as the saviour of its company. The only problem may be that the technology is already out of date by the time it is launched. Battery power may indeed prove to be a viable alternative to the internal combustion engine in the short term, but with limited mileage on a full charge and hours needed to recharge, the hydrogen fuel cell looks, on the face of it, a much better long term solution.

Enter the Honda FCX Clarity. Powered by a hydrogen fuel cell, the Clarity has been hailed as the most important car launched this century. Creating electricity by combining hydrogen that is stored in a fuel tank on board the vehicle, with oxygen from the air, the only bi products produced are heat and water. Giving us the first truly eco friendly car, that is, if you ignore how the hydrogen is produced (currently from electricity generated from fossil fuels).

With a top speed of one hundred miles per hour and a claimed range of 280 miles, the Honda Clarity does not need to be recharged and does not need a conventionalinternal combustion engine to top up its charge, it is simply filled with gaseous hydrogen at suitable filling stations. These stations may be limited at the moment, but as demand grows for these vehicles more stations will no doubt follow.

Currently available on a six hundred dollar a month three year lease, the Clarity will no doubt already have a host of celebrities lining up to confirm their green credentials and as it is only available in southern California (probably the most environmentally aware location in the States) the allocation has already been filled. This area has been chosen for the trials purely and simply because it has at least got a few of the hydrogen filling stations needed to refill the Clarity.

So, with General Motors announcing that it will delay the completion of the factory that will produce the engines for the Volt, even though it has been held up as the symbol of their future. It is looking more and more as if the hydrogen car may overtake the electric / hybrid plug in before it even makes it into the showrooms. GM hope to launch the Volt in 2010, but Honda will have no doubt ironed out any glitches with the Clarity by then, giving them a clear advantage over others, just as Toyota did with the Prius.

With technology moving towards cars that produce zero emissions General Motors may be pinning their hopes on a car that has a very limited shelf life. Historically, it has been very late in realising that its customers needs have changed. In its haste to catch up, has it once again misjudged the direction in which the market is moving? If it has, then theChevy Volt could very well prove to be the final nail in the coffin for General Motors.