The Honda FCX (commonly referred to as Fuel Cell eXperimental) is a family of hydrogen fuel cell automobiles manufactured by Honda.
The Honda FCX and Toyota FCHV, which began leasing on December 2, 2002, became the world's first government-certified commercial hydrogen fuel cell vehicles.
As of March 2007, there are more than twenty Honda FCX vehicles in the hands of customers, including the state of New York, cities of Las Vegas, Chula Vista, San Francisco and the South Coast Air Quality Management District in three different American states.
Limited marketing of a latest fuel cell vehicle named FCX Clarity, based on the 2007 concept model, began on June 19, 2008 in Japan and the United States. Honda believes it could start mass-producing the next model evolved from the FCX concept by 2018.
1999 FCX concept and prototypes
The first prototype FCX is a four-door, four-seat vehicle that was launched in 1999. Dimensions are: length 4165 mm, width 1760 mm and height 1645 mm. The fuel cell was a PEFC (proton exchange membrane) manufactured by Ballard Power Systems. The fuel cell had power output of 78 kW.
The engine has a maximum output of 80 horsepower (60 kilowatts), torque of and has an EPA certified range of 170 miles.
The first vehicles were delivered on December 2, 2002, in the USA (City of Los Angeles) and Japan.
1999 September
Honda FCX-V1: Hydrogen vehicle model
Honda FCX-V2: Methanol-fuel cell model
2000 September
Honda FCX-V3: Supercapacitor model, began tests in the public roads
2001 September
Honda FCX-V4: evolved version of FCX-V3
2002 March
Honda FCX-V4 served as pace car at the Los Angeles Marathon
2002 July
FCX became the world's first fuel-cell car certified by the U.S. EPA and California Air Resources Board for commercial use 2002 December Honda FCX: vehicles delivered to Japanese Prime Minister's office (Kantei) and Los Angeles City 2003 July Honda supplied the world's first fuel-cell vehicle to a private corporation 2003 October Honda FC Stack was released. It was capable of power generation at temperatures as low as -20°C 2004 April FCX were leased to the City and County of San Francisco, California, USA 2004 June FCX were leased to the South Coast Air Quality Management District 2004 July FC Stack-equipped FCX received U.S. government certification for commercial use 2004 November FCX was leased to the City of Chula Vista, California, USA FC Stack-equipped FCX was leased to the State of New York and became the world's first delivery of fuel-cell vehicles to a cold-weather region 2005 January FC Stack-equipped FCX delivered to Hokkaido Prefecture, Japan 2005 February FCX vehicles leased to the City of Las Vegas, USA 2007 March actress Q'orianka Kilcher leases Honda FCX and became the world's youngest individual customer of fuel cell vehicles 2001-2007 FCX was the official pace car of the Los Angeles Marathon
2002 FCX
This FCX uses front-wheel drive and is still a three-door four-seat hatchback vehicle like its predecessor. It has a maximum output of 80 kilowatts (107 horsepower) and 282 Nm (201 foot-pounds) of torque and has an operating range of 190 miles.
The 2005 FCX was the second-generation fuel-cell vehicle (FCV) from Honda. It was Honda's first fuel-cell vehicle powered by a fuel-cell stack designed and manufactured by Honda, and was certified by both the EPA and CARB for commercial use. It had an EPA city/highway rating of 62/51 mpkg (57 mpkg combined). It achieved a nearly 20-percent improvement in EPA fuel economy rating (51/46 mpkg (48 mpkg combined), a 33-percent gain in peak power (107 hp vs. 80 hp) and also a nearly 20-percent gain in operating range compared to the 2004 FCX (a range of 160 miles). FCX was, according to Honda, the only fuel cell vehicle fully certified to meet the applicable federal government crash safety standards at the time. Later with software upgrades for 2006 FCX, this was enhanced to 210 miles.(EPA certified) The vehicle weighs in at 1680 kg (3700 pounds) and has a maximum speed of 150 km/h (93 mph) and a 0–100 km/h (0-60 mph) acceleration time of 11 seconds. Main hydrogen components of the vehicle include fuel cell, two hydrogen tanks behind the rear and ultracapacitors.
This model used a fuel cell first developed in-house by Honda called the Honda FC Stack. The fuel cell was introduced in October 2003 and can operate at a low temperature of −20 °C. The type of fuel cell used is a Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell. The fuel cell stack has a power of 86 kilowatts.