Honda Sells First Hydrogen Powered Vehicles

According to BBC News, Honda has begun production on the first commercial, zero-emission, hydrogen fuel cell powered vehicle. The car will be a four-seater and will run on electricity produced by combining hydrogen with oxygen. Honda claims the vehicle will offer three times better fuel efficiency than traditional cars. Below is a quote from the article, to read the full article check out Honda makes first hydrogen cars on BBC.co.uk.

One of the biggest obstacles standing in the way of wider adoption of fuel-cell vehicles is the lack of hydrogen fuelling stations. Critics also point out that hydrogen is costly to produce and the most common way to produce hydrogen is still from fossil fuels.

Analysis of the environmental impact of different fuel technologies has shown that the overall carbon dioxide emissions from hydrogen powered cars can be higher than that from petrol or diesel-powered vehicles.

The first five customers are all based in southern California because of the proximity of hydrogen fuelling stations, Honda said. US actress Jamie Lee Curtis will be among the first to take delivery of the vehicle, the firm added.

The car will initially be available for lease rather than purchase in California, starting in July, and then in Japan later this year.

GM Fuel Cell SUVs Go 300 Miles

According to the Cincinnati Enquirer, General Motors Corporation set a new world record last week when their Sequel SUV fuel-cell vehicles were each driven 300 miles on public road using only one tank of hydrogen. The point of the drive was to prove that the vehicle was ready for the public, and that it could travel long distances without problems. "This is a very significant event to us," notes Larry Burns, Vice President of Research, Development and Planning. "Our goal was to go 300 miles because that is what our customers tell us they need. This is a vehicle that can carry four or five passengers, but this is also a vehicle that emits just water. We are in the infancy of a whole new automobile." The test came just one day after President George W. Bush announced his plans to increase vehicle fuel-economy standards by the end of 2008.