The clear way to help out the environment
Hydrogen-powered sedan offers driving experience of being in a normal vehicle
Smog greets visitors of Los Angeles as soon as they step off an airplane, much like Hawaiian guests are greeted with a lei. The beautiful mountains are blanketed by the foggy haze of pollution, a result of the many cars, trucks and other vehicles burning gasoline in traffic or on the move.
The solutions that are in place are easy to wrap your head around when viewed in the grand scope of things. By minimizing our reliance on fossil fuels, we can slowly restore the air quality and maybe get an unfiltered view of the horizon in places such as Los Angeles.
Offering environmentally conscious consumers vehicles that use no gasoline is one way automakers are trying to help the situation. Electric vehicles have gained popularity with people who hate pumping gas and enjoy the silent thrill of electron propulsion. However, electric cars feature huge batteries, which are capable of being recharged anywhere there’s an electric outlet, but take a long time to reach their full capacity.
Another alternative fuel that’s seen as a potential saviour of our blue skies is hydrogen. Cars fuelled by hydrogen use quiet and clean electric motors to move around, but a hydrogen-powered vehicle is much quicker to refuel than recharging a battery. It can take just three to five minutes to refill a tank, and when you do, you get an EV-beating range of over 482 kilometres. Honda has been offering these hydrogen-fuelled cars for more than10 years now, in very limited and niche markets, but is looking to expand the availability and appeal with a new vehicle called the Clarity FCV. How it all works Part of a new series of Hondas that will all be powered by some kind of alternate fuel source, the first model will use a hydrogen fuel-cell powertrain, replacing the old FCX Clarity and features some significant changes to the usual hydrogen-poweredcar formula.
For starters, the parts of the vehicle that take hydrogen, turn it into electricity and send that power to the front wheels, (lovingly called the fuel-cell powertrain components) now occupy the same space as a V6 engine, meaning it all fits under the hood of the car.
What doesn’t fit under the hood is a lithium-ion battery that’s slightly larger than you’d find in an Accord Hybrid. That sits under the front seats of the car, while the rear portion of the car houses two hydrogen tanks that hold 5.46 kilograms of compressed gas combined. One tank is underneath the rear seats, while the other is right behind them.
The power plant is barely sleepy, giving life to an electric motor that makes 174 horsepower and 221 lb-ft of torque, making it feel like something between the four-cylinder and six-cylinder Accord variants. It feels extremely potent and ready to get going.
For those less interested in eco matters, the car also features a sport mode that makes the accelerator pedal more sensitive and also makes the regenerative braking more aggressive so that whenever you let off the pedal, it feels like a conventionally powered car would when downshifting.
It proved itself fairly sporty in the hilly landscape of Santa Barbara, Calif. Pedal feel and acceleration is really smooth and linear and driving the car felt natural in a matter of minutes. Feels like a normal car In fact, the driving dynamics of the car are standard fare and very similar to other big sedans like this, regardless of powertrain.
The steering was also nicely weighted and although it was completely lacking in feedback, it is plenty usable for everyday driving.
Honda has gone to great lengths to ensure the Clarity FCV doesn’t feel like a science experiment. It’s refined and quiet with no rattles, and everything is where it should be and acts like it should.
There’s really nothing here that will blow your mind — even the interior is well arranged and a continuation of themes found in modern Hondas. Interior hits and misses The dash is covered with a soft ultrasuede, and the seats feature ecofriendly leather. The central console features a floating console where the push-button gear selector is. It also has two USB ports, one of which is used for the Apple CarPlay and Android Auto support.
The infotainment system is just OK, and if you’ve used any of Honda’s recent vehicles, you’ll be quickly accustomed to it. The biggest issue is the lack of volume knob.
There are a number of safety and driver assistance features offered with the Clarity FCV, including lanekeep assist, the LaneWatch blindspot camera and adaptive cruise control, rounding out the car’s premium and high-tech appeal.
Despite the packaging demands of a hydrogen car, the Clarity FCV still features a trunk volume of 334 litres and plenty of passenger space. There’s also space for three passengers in the rear of the car, making it the first hydrogen-powered sedan to offer that kind of accommodation. The verdict Is the Clarity good enough to buy? Sure, but it’s just not that easy.
For starters, the Honda Clarity FCV is not yet available in Canada. Honda Canada is currently testing the vehicle to determine its viability here. Honda will debut all-electric and plug-in hybrid variants of the Clarity soon that are more likely to be sold in Canada.
Having said that, it will only be available at limited dealerships for a three-year lease of $369 (U.S.) a month, with $2,868 down. That lease includes some goodies though, such as $15,000 of free hydrogen fuel (which was priced at about $16/kg when we test drove the car) and 21 days of a luxury car rental, so when you want to travel somewhere that may not have fuelling stations for the Clarity, you can get a free rental. The car is also eligible for a sticker to gain access to the High Occupancy Vehicle Lane in certain jurisdictions and there’s also a clean vehicle rebate available to buyers that should help ease the cost of things.
But as good as the car is, it’s hard to come to terms with the scarcity of fuelling stations. People may want to breathe cleaner air and reduce the smog, but it comes with a significant amount of planning, and while cars like the Clarity are solid, the next step also includes expanding that hydrogen infrastructure.