Honda said in a Feb. 28 release that it will put a new fuel cell vehicle (FCV) on sale in the summer of 2024 in Japan. Utilizing hydrogen fuel, it can travel more than 600 kilometers. Newly added charging function. This is a function not available in Korea’s Hyundai Motor and Toyota’s fuel cell vehicles, and will be used to improve user convenience.
Honda plans to produce and import the SUV “CR-V e:FCEV” in the U.S. Honda revealed the vehicle for the first time on February 28 at a demonstration site in Tokyo. It can be filled with hydrogen in about three minutes.
Prices have not yet been announced. Toyota’s fuel cell car “MIRAI” and other vehicles cost about 8 million yen (about 380,000 yuan). CR-V also has a rechargeable function, but it is estimated that the price is at the same level as the competitors.
This is the first time a Japanese company has introduced a fuel cell vehicle with a rechargeable plug-in function. It can travel more than 60 kilometers on battery alone. In terms of the time it takes to recover from 20% to 80% of the remaining charge, it is expected that a normal charge (6 kW output power) will take about 2 hours. It can be charged at charging stations throughout Japan and at home.
The fuel cell vehicle can be used as a power source in the event of a disaster or while camping. Power can be supplied at a maximum of 1,500 watts by plugging a special device into the charging port. In addition to large air conditioners for stores and offices, the vehicle is also equipped with a DC power supply port for lighting used in outdoor activities. A power supply port is prepared in the trunk at the rear of the body.
The fuel cell was jointly developed by Honda and General Motors (GM). A 50%-owned joint venture in the U.S. is responsible for production, and manufacturing costs have been reduced to one-third of the original cost, while no carbon dioxide is emitted when running on hydrogen fuel.
As for the fuel cell vehicle with rechargeable plug-in function, the Mercedes-Benz Group of Germany was the first to launch it, and neither Hyundai, which will be the world’s No. 1 seller of fuel cell vehicles in 2022, nor Toyota, which will be the No. 2 seller of fuel cell vehicles in the world, have launched it.
Honda was the first in the world to receive certification from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the California Atmospheric Resources Board (CARB) for its fuel cell vehicles in 2002, and was the first in the world to start leasing and selling the vehicles to individual customers in 2005, but is currently lagging behind in terms of sales.
Honda has revealed that by 2040, all new cars sold globally will be “zero-emission vehicles” such as electric vehicles (EVs) and fuel cell vehicles that do not produce exhaust fumes. The third-generation fuel cell vehicle, the Clarity Fuel Cell, will be discontinued in 2021.