Development of Fuel Cell Vehicle with Next-generation Fuel Cell Stack 2006-01-0034

In 2002, to address environmental and energy issues, Honda began to deliver a fuel cell vehicle, the FCX. Now, Honda has developed a new model FCX, which is able to operate in cold regions with significantly enhanced driving performance, in an attempt to increase the popularity of fuel cell vehicles in the world. The new vehicle employs Hondas next-generation fuel cell stack which enables start-up and allows for power generation at - 20 ° C, and Honda has delivered new FCXs to customers where winter temperatures fall to -20 ° C--in New York state, US and Hokkaido, Japan-leading the world. As the motor power-output has been increased to 80kW increases in both the power-output of the fuel cell stack and the energy capacity of the ultra-capacitors have enabled an increased supply of power to ° the motor, resulting in significant enhancement of both initial and overtake acceleration performance. In addition, the energy efficiency of the fuel cell system has been greatly enhanced, resulting in a total energy efficiency of 55%, three times that of a conventional gasoline-powered vehicle and twice that of a hybrid vehicle. Since fuel economy has also been enhanced by 22%, compared to the previous model, the driving range has been increased to 430km.