New Honda FCV Concept revealed

A new Honda FCV Concept – a hydrogen fuel cell powered electric car – has been previewed as Honda reveal it is a close look at its production FCV due in 2016.

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It’s a bit of a hydrogen car news day, with the Toyota FCV getting a proper name – the Toyota Mirai – and now Honda jumping in and bagging (the hardly original) FCV moniker for its new hydrogen fuel cell concept.

Dubbed the Honda FCV, it’s a car that looks not unlike the Toyota Mirai – and promises to do much the same job – and is yet another illustration that hydrogen fuel cell power is now becoming a commercial reality.

Honda was very early to the hydrogen party with its ground-breaking FCX Clarity, but their latest FCV comes with much better power and packaging.

Power comes from an electric motor that delivers 134bhp and is fuelled by a hydrogen fuel cell stack that is a third smaller then previously, and yet has an output of more than 100 kW and density of 3.1kW/L.

That means an improvement of around 60 per cent on their previous fuel cell stacks and a range of 435 miles, with refuelling from empty taking just a few minutes.

Cleverly, Honda has also delivered a ‘Power Exporter’ that allows the FCV to export the energy it produces – up to 9.1kW – in times of need.

The Honda FCV will go on sale in Japan by the end of March 2016, and in the UK and USA some time after.