Honda plans to introduce fuel-cell electric vehicle

Columbus Dispatch

COLUMBUS

Honda plans to introduce a fuel-cell electric vehicle that would go on sale in the United States in 2015.

Takanobu Ito, Honda’s president and CEO, announced the move in a wide-ranging speech in Japan last week in which he set sales goals for the company for the next five years.

“This new fuel-cell vehicle will showcase further technological advancement and significant cost-reduction that Honda has accomplished,” he said, according to a transcript.

Honda has two assembly plants and a research-and-development office in central Ohio.

Ito did not say where the fuel-cell vehicle would be developed or how many would be produced. However, the company tends to do its initial work on new technologies close to its Tokyo headquarters.

Ito said Honda considers fuel-cell electric vehicles to be the “ultimate environmentally responsible vehicle.” A fuel cell converts fuel, often natural gas or hydrogen, into electricity. For years, auto engineers have said fuel cells hold tremendous potential to reduce harmful emissions. Several automakers, including Toyota and General Motors, have said they intend to build a fuel-cell vehicle by 2015.

Honda is well-positioned to make the most of this initiative, said Pat Valenti, executive director of the Ohio Fuel Cell Coalition.

He points to the FCX Clarity, a limited-release fuel-cell car that Honda has produced for a decade. The company has sold fewer than 100 of the hydrogen-fueled vehicles.

The FCX is three times as fuel-efficient as a gasoline-powered vehicle and twice as efficient as a gasoline-electric hybrid, according to Honda.

“They have been learning over the last four or five years what works and what doesn’t work,” said Valenti, whose business group represents dozens of Ohio companies that build fuel cells and related components for a variety of uses.

“If anything, they’re going to be a step ahead of the other companies.”

Though he is excited about Honda’s announcement, he also sees some big challenges.

The largest obstacle is the lack of infrastructure to fuel the vehicles, Valenti said.

Ito also laid out some ambitious sales goals in the speech.

In “mature” markets — which include the U.S., Japan and Europe — he wants auto sales to increase from an estimated 2.06 million units this year to 3 million in 2017.