"Honda The Power Of Dreams"

Background

"Honda the power of dreams" This is the famous slogan that Honda has always stood by for its multinational company, and to me that slogan means having a dream and making that dream into reality. One of those dreams is the Honda FCX Concept which is a hydrogen fuel cell vehicle. Hydrogen full cells generate electrical power, without the pollution which is a worldwide dream.

The FCX Concept runs on hydrogen and oxygen, it emits water as a by product which is a ZEV (zero emission vehicles) and will be the car of the future. The door linings and seat upholstery are made from Bio Fabric which is a plant based material that protects against sunlight damage. FCX Concept was unveiled in 2006, the production model will be called the Honda FCX Clarity. It has 127bhp with the max speed of 100mph and can go up to a massive 12,500rpm, but most impressively it does around 350miles purely on hydrogen due to the fact that they stacked the fuel cells vertically (not horizontally which was the traditional way) allowing the water to flow down freely due to gravity. Honda say they want to start producing this vehicle in 3-4 years but this is a bold statement to make, as the world needs to be more aware and should act now in order to adapt to the changes. Right now there are no hydrogen fuelling stations in the UK and there are over 100 in the US. Honda is the largest engine maker in the world and has the power to push things forward but it is not uncommon for big companies to go back on there words, and so can it be possible for the world to produce hydrogen efficiently in 3-4 years time, which will be in time for the Honda FCX Clarity's release but only time can tell.

Technology objectives

Global warming is a big issue that has to be tackled and multinational companies like Honda are always researching new ways to improve the environment for future generations, so they will not have to undo the problems we have created that effects our environment. Our planets fossil fuels are in such limited supply that we go to war to protect them, and our resources won't last forever therefore we have to look for other sustainable resources such as solar power, wind turbines, fuel cells and many more. There are around 24million vehicles on the road in the UK all contributing CO2 into the worlds atmosphere and making places like Central London a very, very nasty place to be in the summer. We can change all this with fuel cell vehicles that will last twice as long as normal vehicles.

Alternatives

Right now there are a few alternatives to petroleum, one of the most popular alternatives today is hybrids. In 1999 Honda began selling the Insight which was the first hybrid vehicle on the market in the US, now hybrid vehicles are becoming more and more popular selling around 100,000 hybrids in the US in just 2007. Hybrids are half electrical and half petrol vehicles which consumes less petrol because the electrical engine is on when the car is at stationary or cruising below 30mph, but it all depends on what make and model the vehicle is as it may vary. One of the most popular models is the Toyota Prius due to the influence's from celebrity's. The bad points are that they still contribute to green house gases but for now it’s a temporary solution, but not a full solution.

Another alternative which is proving to be popular is bio ethanol, which is mixed in with the petrol and reduces the amount of carbon dioxide that’s released. The bad point about bio fuel is that it is made from crops, which in turn raises the price of crops due to the demand of bio fuel. To me it also seems a waste to use crops in this way, when it can be used to feed people in 3rd world countries instead of taking the crops that we have for granted.

The G Wiz is an all electrical alterative even though it may look like a glorified but ugly golf cart but it gives zero emissions, its exempt from road tax congestion charging and parking charges. The problem with this vehicle lies in the design's because of the vehicle's plastic body and li-ion batteries, as it can be a very dangerous vehicle to be in during an accident. The g wiz is easy to park especially around cities like London because the car is so small. You still have to bare in mind that because it uses electricity it can still contributes to green house gases but how? The same way electricity is supplied to a lot of people from power stations, which is a BIG contributor to green house gases.

I think that Diesel is still a better option then petrol, as it gives you extra miles per gallon but a lot of people are still buying petrol cars because they never liked the old diesels, as they were too noisy and less powerful than the petrol engines. Today all of that has changed, as technology has advanced. There are more alternatives to fuel cells now and in the future, but I think that Honda has the right idea and is going to lead the way in fuel cell technology just like they have in the motoring industry in the past.

Political and Finance

More and more oil is needed for the ever growing amount of cars that we have on our roads today and there are around 200million vehicles around the world, about 24million of those vehicles are on the roads in the Untied Kingdom. The London Congestion charge was introduced in February 2003 and is put in place to stop the governments concerns about the growing pollution and the grid locked traffic in Central London, due to the growing amount of vehicles entering London everyday. Fuel prices are on the rise in the UK and the Government has no intention of dropping the prices, due to the fact that they buy oil at a higher price themselves. The UK currently have no infrastructure to deal with the fuel cells any time soon, which means they are behind the US who have over 120 fuel cell stations.

In 2003 the US put a massive injection into fuel cells to lead the research into its technology, the US department of Energy states that "President Bush announced a $1.2 billion Hydrogen Fuel Initiative to reverse America's growing dependence on foreign oil". This is because of the rising oil prices in the US (as you can see in the graph below, oil prices are on a slow rise at the start of 2007), and the tense relationships between the United States and the Middle Eastern countries. As America is the biggest contributor to CO2 it would make a MASSIVE impact on the world and not only will the world follow in its foot steps but the world would be a much greener place.

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sustainable development

Fuel cells will revolutionize the motoring industry as fuel cell cars can be made to last twice as long as normal cars, that means a life of 20 years per fuel cell vehicle instead of 10 years of a petrol vehicle. The only floor right now is that fuel cells cannot be produced in an efficient way, as most of the fuel cells today come from steam reforming of natural gas. There have been a lot of testing for fuel cell vehicles and buses around the world with a lot of success, for example Honda have been leasing out their fuel cell vehicle's for testing and reviews since 1999 with positive feed backs. The Transport for London says "Having taken part in a really successful European trial we now want to have ten hydrogen buses running in London by 2010". The first person who finds a way of producing hydrogen fuel cells efficiently without the use of fossil fuels will be a very rich person.

Conclusion

Overall I found that fuel cells vehicles will be the best option for the environment later in the future, until there’s a clean source of hydrogen to fuel them. I also conclude that the Honda FCX will be a leading ZEV (Zero Emissions Vehicle) with the environment as there is NO CO2 and only water is produced as a by product. Fuel cells can do more then just power cars in the future, fuel cells can even be used to power small electrical devices and even homes. As a Honda owner myself, I will support Honda in their battle to help combat global warming by purchasing a fuel cell vehicle for myself in the future.

References:

Transport for London. Retrieved January 15, 2008, from http://www.tfl.gov.uk/corporate/projectsandschemes/environment/2017.aspx.
U.S. Department of Energy. Retrieved January 15, 2008, from http://www1.eere.energy.gov/hydrogenandfuelcells/presidents_initiative.html.
Honda. Retrieved January 15, 2008, from http://world.honda.com/fcx/.
Simon Birch. (2007, July 5). Hydrogen fuel station: is this really the fuel of future. The Independent, p. 1.