Originally Posted by TopGear.com

Bombing along



It's a touch ironic that the world isn't quite ready for a car we have been promised will arrive for more than 10 years. But that's the situation with the Honda FCX Clarity, the fuel-cell car that runs on hydrogen and emits only water.

Maybe it's because there have been so many distractions - hybrids, ethanol, bioethanol, electric, etc - that we've missed this one coming. Or maybe we heard 'hydrogen', thought 'bomb' and took cover.

But whatever the reason, perhaps it was a mistake to ignore it, as the Honda FCX Clarity works on lots of levels. Here are a few for starters.

Hydrogen can be made anywhere there's a water and electricity supply, so you don't need to drill for or transport anything. Using hydrogen, you can store and quickly refill a large amount of fuel energy in a relatively small space, which you still can't with batteries.

Hydrogen burns completely clean, so there's no local pollution. The flammability of hydrogen - its tendency to go bang when around heat - is lower than that for petrol vapour, so the bomb you should be worried about is in your garage, not in this Honda.

Starting to sound like a wonderfuel, isn't it? Perhaps, but here are a few of the downsides, lest I start to sound biased. Hydrogen is currently made using fossil fuels, so it does create pollution at the site it is made.

It also requires a hugely expensive fuel cell packed with more precious metals than the crown jewels to turn the hydrogen into electricity. And, probably the most relevant problem, there's almost nowhere to fill up a hydrogen-powered car.

So, balancing the pluses against the minuses, you'd think it's far from a done deal that the FCX Clarity has much chance at success. And that would be true - anywhere other than California, where the car is going exclusively on sale this year. Here in the Golden State, Honda will be able to sell as many as it makes.

For the people who have made the awkward, expensive and not-green Prius the third best selling Toyota in the US, the Clarity is the new motoring messiah. A website set up for prospective Clarity customers crashed the day after it went live because so many people wanted to sign up for one.

But then, that's not entirely due to its green credentials. Sure, there are a few yogurt-weavers who are giving their trees an extra big hug and opening a bottle of hemp wine about the arrival of the Clarity.



But the real reasons for its popularity are its scarcity (fewer than 100 will be made available initially), its heavily subsidized lease price - at $600 per month, it's about the same as a 3-Series BMW or a C-Class Merc - and the fact that, actually, it is a very cool car.

The body looks familiar in a Prius meets Passat type of way, but it flows and curves into a satisfying shape that looks as modern and contemporary as the technology that hides within. It seems like a pity to paint it maroon - even if the paint is as deep and lustrous as foot-deep chrome - when a quicksilver finish would be more appropriate, but the Honda guys said they wanted to keep it modest.

They clearly hadn't spoken to the guy who designs the instruments, though. Get into the driver's seat and you feel like Captain Kirk, as there's more backlit, 3D dials and readouts than in a fleet of starships. There's a traditional steering wheel and indicator stalk, but that's about it. All the other dials and graphs are telling you about the health of the fuel cell, the battery life and God knows what else.

To simplify it all, there's a little coloured ball in the dead centre of the main display to tell you how you are doing. When the car is stationary, it's small, tranquil and blue. When you step on the throttle, it gets bigger and, like the Hulk, turns green. If you put your foot to the floor, the once-tiny circle turns into a raging orange sun to signify your vast hydrogen consumption.

It's just as well it's there, since there's very little in the way of noise and absolutely no vibration to tell you that you are accelerating. There's a faint, turbine-like whine that gets more shrill as the pace rises, but even that melts away once you've reached your cruising speed.

Top speed is a limited 100mph, and 0-60mph takes around seven seconds. But it's the 136bhp electric motor's torque that impresses most. With 189lb ft available from rest, it catapults the car off the line in a cloud of steam and makes overtaking warp-speed quick. Economy comes out at the equivalent of 67mpg, and total range is 270 miles.

Those figures alone are probably enough to recommend it, but they are far from the Clarity's only party trick. The seats in the car showcase a new energy-efficient heating/cooling technology that works so well, you can be sure other car makers will be ripping them off shortly.

Likewise the packaging of the whole car. Because there's virtually no traditional drivetrain - the electric motor drives the front wheels - there's loads of space for other things, like humans. It might be four inches shorter than an Accord, which makes it easier to park, but it has more interior room than a car a couple of classes bigger.

The only real problem with it - as long as Honda continues to subsidise the $1m price tag with its giveaway lease deals - is where to refuel. Even in LA, where you have to live to be on the Clarity's shortlist for selection, there are currently only five hydrogen pumps. More are due to open, but it'll be a decade before there's a proper network on a par with petrol.

Honda thinks it has the answer to this: the Home Energy Station. This is a box that lives in your garage, hooked up to the electricity, and water supply, that makes hydrogen to fuel the car. It can even be powered by solar electricity, via a kit that Honda makes and sells, but - and it's a big but - none of it will be available for several years yet.

Which is perhaps the ultimate irony. Honda has invented the car of the future and the way to fuel it. Just not at the same time. Hydrogen might be the fuel of the future, but filthy old oil is still the fuel of today.