Our future on this planet is unclear. If we’re to believe some of the hype, the human race may end up producing enough waste to flood the earth as the polar ice caps are melted down to nothing. If you’re on the other side of that argument, we’ll be just fine and we can continue living life as we have been. It’s no secret, however, that many auto manufacturers have been looking to decrease our dependency on oil and with some moderate success. It’s not often that the automotive industry does something so futuristic and mind-blowing that its production is limited to a very specific market, but Honda has managed to make that happen.
Fuel cell vehicles are still, very much, a thing of the future. With a limited amount of hydrogen fuel stations available in the United States, production of these vehicles has remained incredibly low. However, Honda believes its worth keeping up with technology in order to produce a small number of fuel cell vehicles, as they produce zero harmful emissions that are said to be responsible for the potential destruction of the ozone layer and our air quality. With that in mind, they’ve restarted production of their four-door hydrogen fuel cell sedan, the Clarity.
The Honda FCX Clarity was unveiled at the 2007 Los Angeles Auto Show and was met with an outpouring of support. Over 50,000 people were said to have inquired about the vehicle on the automaker’s website. However, due to the car’s availability only in the Southern California market, Honda only leased about fifty of the vehicles in the United States from 2008 to 2014. As of right now, in the U.S., the majority of the country’s hydrogen fueling stations exist in a small area, mostly in Southern California and therefore the vehicles are only made available in that state.
The FCX Clarity ceased production in 2014, despite its relative popularity in California, Japan, and Europe. Unlike hybrid vehicles, hydrogen vehicles average about sixty miles per kilogram. The cost of hydrogen is somewhat higher than that of gasoline, at twelve to fourteen dollars per kilogram, but when weighed again the economy of hydrogen fuel, drivers considered it a fairly even trade. However efficient and high function the FCX Clarity was, it was also somewhat unrealistic as the market was so minuscule in comparison to the options for traditional gasoline running or hybrid vehicles. Even the electric car proved somewhat more popular and services a wider range of people.
Not to be discouraged by the limited amount of leases on the FCX Clarity, Honda announced in 2016 that they would begin the launch of the Honda Clarity Fuel Cell. It was only available in twelve approved dealerships in the Southern California market, once again as this is where the majority of hydrogen fueling stations reside. The newer version has an increased range of one hundred and thirty-five miles, adding up to an incredible 366 miles and gets an impressive 67 miles per gallon. Hydrogen fuel is measured in kilograms and one kilogram is equal to about one gallon of gasoline.
In late summer of 2017, Honda’s latest version of the Clarity will hit dealerships nationwide; the Clarity electric. Not at all what you’d expect from an electric vehicle, this version of the Clarity is just as stylish as Honda’s other models and enough room for five adult passengers. Coming soon after the electric model, Honda has plans to release the plug-in hybrid version. Both of these vehicles will feature all of the accouterments that people are looking for in traditional vehicles but offer some incredibly earth-friendly benefits as well.
If Honda was looking to stake their claim on the future of American vehicles, they’ve certainly gotten their foot in the door with the various offerings from their Clarity lineup. In a world where the state of the environment has become increasingly important, the more offerings in the vehicle world that comply with those desires, the better. Honda is certainly ensuring that they’re one of the brands at the top of the list when the time comes to release our dependency on foreign oil, once and for all. For Honda, the future is quite clear.
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