When it comes to electric cars and fuel cell cars, we tend to wait around for a while, always being promised something that is just the little bit further into the future. Today, however, we have something firmly in hand. Honda has announced this morning that they have begun commercial production of their fuel cell powered car, the FCX Clarity. From its debut as a concept vehicle in 2005 at the Tokyo Motor Show, it has been designed from the ground up to uniquely be a fuel cell car, not a variant on a gasoline-powered or range extended EV.

Their newly built production line, dedicated to the FCX, will only produce a few dozen units this year but they expect to crank out 200 next year, all to be leased for 3 years in order to test them out and gather data. As you might expect, the first 5 recipients of the vehicle will be Hollywood types, in order to raise the profile of the car, but the others will go a handful of the over 50,000 applicants who signed up for a lease. The number of interested parties, who would pay $600 a month, is quite amazing in showing the commitment and desire for alternative fuel vehicles in the US.

The Clarity, which uses Honda's V Flow Fuel cell stack will have a maximum range of 280 miles per tank, running at the equivalent of 74 mpg. They've also managed to improve their lithium-ion batteries to be 50% lighter and 40% smaller and also boast about their 50% improvement in fuel stack power output. To fuel the vehicles, Honda has created a fuel cell dealership network in California which should expand over the coming years. Until then the leases will be confined to those areas with existing hydrogen fill stations. It should be interesting to see what happens with Honda considering they dropped their Accord hybrid for lack of consumer interest and Toyota having hit 1 million Prius sales, but it is clear that they are now leading the front of fuel cell vehicles in the market.

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