Honda has confounded green-motoring analysts by announcing that it will offer a hydrogen-powered car for general sale in 2008, years earlier than expected.

The car in question - the third generation of Honda's FCX fuel-cell demonstrator platform - was always expected (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/05/11/honda_green_car_actress_promo/) to debut next year, but until now the plan had been to lease it to users in a motoring beta test. Now Honda has amazed the motoring world by saying that the car will go on sale in the US and Japan for just £50,000 - despite the scarcity of hydrogen filling stations.

"When the car was invented, countries weren't full of petrol stations," Honda chief exec Takeo Fukui said. "When the demand is there [the hydrogen economy] will happen.”

Honda is trying to get more hydrogen pumps deployed, but also has another trick up its sleeve: the planned Home Energy Station (http://world.honda.com/FuelCell/FCX/station/). This might be bought by FCX owners in future, and hooked up to their domestic gas supply to produce hot water and electricity for the house as well as hydrogen for the car. The Energy Station isn't ready yet, however.

Honda's great rival Toyota sees the future of motoring completely differently. Its Prius hybrid has now been eclipsed (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/07/31/gov_prius_ass_whup/) in the fuel-economy stakes by lightweight conventional cars, but it plans to regain the initiative by the use of so-called "plug-in hybrid" cars, which run mainly on battery power drawn from the grid but carry a petrol engine for long journeys.

A lot of people like the plug-in hybrid idea, including the eggheads at Google (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/06/19/google_green_cars/). But Fukui was scathing, suggesting that the engineering of such cars was foolish, and that only the powerful American coal lobby would benefit from their widespread use.

"Carrying a [mains rechargeable] battery [as well as an engine] is dead weight," he told the Times (http://driving.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/driving/features/article2744803.ece).

"It is highly political," said Fukui, "but, technically speaking it's nonsense." ®

Related stories

Spinal Tap's Tufnel gets new Honda hydrogen car (16 June 2008)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/06/16/honda_fcx_production_spinal_tap_guy_buy/
Cow turds fuel Blighty's hydrogen filling station embrace (18 April 2008)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/04/18/hydrogen_filling_stations/
Boeing's Honda-FCX-style fuel cell glider 'success' (3 April 2008)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/04/03/boeing_fuel_cell_plane_success/
US auto-emissions cleansed in urine-tech shower (21 March 2008)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/03/21/mercedes_adblue_emissions_tech_goes_usa/
Academics propose carbon-capture kit for cars (13 February 2008)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/02/13/carbon_capture_onboard_cars_water_petrol/
London Congestion Charge becomes CO₂ tax (12 February 2008)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/02/12/red_ken_green_tax/
French motorwonk savages hybrid cars (10 February 2008)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/02/10/hybrid_prius_frenc/
Motor titans crowd aboard 'green' bandwagon (16 January 2008)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/01/16/greener_than_thou_toyota_chevy_prius_volt_hot_air/
GM sees future: Cars and drivers full of booze (9 January 2008)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/01/09/gm_booze_fuelled_future_provoq_hydrogen_e85/
Honda hits reverse on £50k fuel cell cars for '08 (15 November 2007)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/11/15/fcx_clarity_beta_tests_continue_no_ultracapacitor_this_time/
Mayor Ken buys hydrogen buses for London (15 November 2007)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/11/15/london_hydrogen_bus_chavez_bitchslap/
Toyota ponders plug-in hybrids (12 November 2007)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/11/12/toyota_plug_in_hybrid_ponder/
Honda to put ultracapacitors on the road in '08 (5 November 2007)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/11/05/honda_ultracapacitor_mit_electric_shag_nix_batteries/
Fuel-cell UAV achieves 'record' distance (5 November 2007)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/11/05/fuel_cell_uav/
Texan boffin fixin' to make cheaper fuel cells (1 November 2007)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/11/01/texas_fuel_cell_hydrogen_car_platinum_cheapness/
Hypersonic hydrogen airliner to bitchslap Concorde (24 October 2007)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/10/24/hypersonic_hydrogen_rocket_airliner/
US Navy seeks hydrogen-powered forklifts (10 August 2007)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/08/10/us_navy_hydrogen_forklifts/
US Army funds hydrogen-fuelled drone aircraft (19 June 2007)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/06/19/hydrogen_drone_aircraft/
Cars could run on aluminium, say US boffins (21 May 2007)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/05/21/hydrogen_poof_pellet_fruitful_research/
Honda to debut hydrogen fuel-cell car in 2008 (11 May 2007)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/05/11/honda_green_car_actress_promo/
Boeing to test fuel-cell powered publicity plane (30 March 2007)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/03/30/boeing_dont_really_like_fuel_cells/
Biofuels plant announced for Teesside (15 March 2007)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/03/15/biofuel_plant_n_boffins/
Electric cars may not be solution to all world problems (8 March 2007)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/03/08/tesla_car_examined/
Carmakers tout green motors in Geneva (7 March 2007)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/03/07/green_cars_maybe_not_so_green/