Honda whips out fuel-cell sci-fi style sportster
Only thing missing is a roving red light at the front
Honda surprised everyone by whipping the dust cover off of its FC Sport Design Study fuel-cell concept car at the 'subdued' Los Angeles Motor Show last week.
The three-seat FC Sport uses the same V Flow hydrogen fuel-cell found in the Honda FCX Clarity saloon, which went on limited sale in Southern California back in July – one being bought by Jamie Lee Curtis.
Honda's FC Sport: fuel-cell powered
However, the FC Sport's version of the fuel-cell has been reconfigured to better suit the dynamics of an arse-to-the-tar sports car.
With stability and handling in mind, the fuel-cell stack sits between the two rear seats while the battery pack is placed low down amidships. The electric motors sit just forward of the rear axle while the two fuel storage tanks sit above them so they can be easily stolen, damaged and/or admired by passers by.
Easily nickable accessible hydrogen fuel tanks
In the words of American Honda Motor Co. VP Dan Bonawitz, “the Honda FC Sport explores how to satisfy automotive performance enthusiasts in a world beyond petroleum... people who love sports cars will still have a reason to love a hydrogen-powered future”.
No word on how fast the thing will go or if the power train has been in anyway modified from that of the Clarity, which has an electric motor rated at a reasonably modest 100kW, a range of up to 280 miles from a 4.1kg supply of hydrogen compressed at 5000psi, a top speed of 100mph and a 0-60 time of around 8.5s.
There are no pictures of the interior because, in the best tradition of concept cars, it doesn't actually exist. That said, Honda did claim that the exterior panels are “intended to use plant-derived bio-plastics”.
Honda FC Sport Picture Gallery
Next page: Honda FC Sport Picture Gallery
COMMENTS
Re: The Hinderburg on Wheels
"[...] we should take potable water and convert it into hydrogen, destroying the water in the process, and burn the hydrogen. The net has to be a loss of water. Water we will never get back."
Do you know what byproduct you get when you burn Hydrogen? H2O. However, I do agree that using *drinking* water for this is stupid. That's what seawater or even waste water is for. It adds up on a distilling water process cost, but at least it doesn't use clean drinking water.
is it just me or
does this car look like a Lamborghini and the Honda Highbrid had an illegitamate child? Honda always does this taper thing from the back wheels to the rear bumper, AND IT STILL LOOKS WHACK. just a piece of advice, don't take design cues from the honda Hybrid, the second ugliest car of the twenty first centrury only surpassed by the pontiac stationwagon, suv thingeee
RE: Hindenburgh comments
The typical comment said: "Look, the real problem with the Hindenburg was not the hydrogen (that just goes wooof in a fireball, mostly harmless) - it was the cellulose paint that waterproofed the canvas skin: that was the real fire risk."
You fail.
Everyone knows that the story about the skin of the zeppelin turning into something akin to thermite is a comlpete and utter myth.
Proof of this is easy to see in the footage but incase you're blind (as well as easily led by internet lies) then you might want to watch the episode of Mythbusters from January 2007 where they covered this very issue.
Zeppelins have a solid frame and the contents are at normal atmospheric pressure. It's blindingly obvious that the source of the combustion was the hydrogen. If you want proof then make your own zeppelin (like Mythbusters did), fill it with hydrogen and then set it on fire.
...and hydrogen which is stored at many times atmospheric pressure - ha! I shudder to think what any roadside accidents will look like if this is the future.
Requirements Checklist for Choosing a Cloud Backup and Recovery Service Provider
Cloud based data management
Agentless Backup is Not a Myth
SaaS data loss: The problem you didn’t know you had
What you need to know about cloud backup
