So imagine with me; driving down the highway and not thinking about how much gas costs. That would be nice wouldn’t it? Well if you are lucky enough to live in certain areas of Southern California (Irvine, Torrance, and Santa Monica to be exact) then this could soon become a reality. Honda will soon be releasing their first fuel cell based vehicle for lease in these areas for the very reasonable price of $600 a month. Now I’m sure you are thinking that doesn’t sound very reasonable but you might be forgetting one small thing….YOU DON”T NEED TO BUY GAS AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Yes, that is right. No more paying out the ass for $4.50 a gallon gas. Wouldn’t that be amazing? Well evidently sometime soon, the FCX Clarity as it is called, will be available for lease at participating Honda dealers in the above cities. With a three year lease term you can guarantee those gas savings long past it hits the $5 a gallon mark. But how does it work? Well basically the fuel cell combines hydrogen and oxygen to create electricity. (The hydrogen is stored in a tank near the rear of the car.) Then the Lithium Ion battery stores this electricity until it is needed to power the motor. But how does it know when? Well a handy little device called the “Power Drive Unit” governs the electrical flow to the motor, regulating the whole process.
Sounds pretty simple doesn’t it? Well it is scientifically more complicated but basically there are fewer parts and ZERO emissions which sounds like a win-win to me. So there is one more thing I would like to address before I go down to Honda and lease mine. They are supposedly surprisingly nimble. On the test track they achieved a top speed of 100 mph which is pretty satisfying for not having to fill it up. Now for that high-performance model… But seriously, we talk about being “green”, well here is a company that is stepping up and doing it. Lets not let it go to waste, get your FCX while you can!
