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Honda’s hydrogen automotive is an engineering achievement. It’s a technological surprise, a proof of idea for a know-how that absolutely has some kind of future, albeit a hazy one. However it’s at present untenable as a client product, with an unreliable fueling community that’s solely accessible in California (the place it’s additionally absurdly costly), and a lease-only shopping for scheme that obscures simply how costly it truly is. Honda promised on the launch that the issues are being labored out and that hydrogen will play a key position in the way forward for transportation.
I’m speaking, in fact, concerning the 2002 Honda FCX. Or possibly I’m speaking concerning the 2008 Honda FCX Readability. Or the 2017 Honda Readability Gas Cell. However the identical can be true for the 2025 Honda CR-V e:FCEV, its new plug-in hybrid gasoline cell car. The names change, however the story doesn’t. Within the 22 years since Honda first leased the FCX to the town of Los Angeles, the argument for a hydrogen automotive hasn’t gotten higher. It’s gotten a lot worse.
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In 2002 and 2008, the idea of long-range journey in a hydrogen-powered mild car was compelling. The world was vaguely conscious of the necessity for a extra sustainable type of transportation, and the idea of a “long-range, sensible EV” was exceptional. However in 2024, the CR-V e:FCEV’s 270-mile vary would make it just about common amongst 2WD compact electrical SUVs. Honda’s personal (in the event you can name it that) Prologue can cowl 296 miles on a full battery, and may refill that vary outdoors of California.
So it’s finest to not think about the CR-V e:FCEV as a traditional plug-in hybrid as a result of it doesn’t fill the identical position. A RAV4 Prime is designed for zero-emission operation round city, with a gas-burner for longer drives and instances once you don’t have entry to energy. Have your electrical commuting, and your street journeys too.
The e:FCEV is completely different. Each items of its powertrain are zero-emission, and neither works for many street journeys but. The 29-mile vary you get on a full battery is designed to deal with most of your every day commuting, with 240 miles of hydrogen-powered vary to cowl longer days. The thought is to cut back reliance on hydrogen alone, so a niche in filling stations or a gasoline provide disaster doesn’t brick the automotive.
That is Honda’s try to plug the hole till hydrogen infrastructure turns into extra dependable and accessible. However the firm struggles to clarify who this automotive could be good for. Jay Joseph, vice chairman of sustainability and enterprise improvement at American Honda, stated it was focused at “Californian patrons with entry to retail hydrogen.” I’ll develop that definition. It’s for folks in San Fransisco, Los Angeles, San Diego, and Sacramento who desire a zero-emission car with a 300-mile vary however are not looking for that car to be absolutely electrical, for some purpose.
Patrons should even be comfy with hydrogen costs, that are at present within the $35-a-kg vary, making the hydrogen CR-V over thrice as costly to gasoline as a standard, non-hybrid CR-V. Filling the CR-V’s gasoline tank from empty would run you about $140 for 240 miles of vary. That is additionally assuming you will get it, which is not at all times straightforward. There’ll absolutely be a free gasoline provide, as there at all times is with hydrogen automobiles, however the marketplace for this product is tiny. Honda’s hand-building CR-V e:FCEVs on the similar manufacturing facility the place it constructed the second-generation NSX, and expects to promote “north of 300 items” yearly, per Joseph.
The CR-V e:FCEV can export as much as 1.5 kW of energy via its cost port.
So just like the Readability Gas Cell, and the FCX Readability earlier than it, and the FCX earlier than that, that is extra of a tech demonstrator than a client product. If just a few hundred lovers wish to lease one to assist help the event of the know-how, nice. However the main aim for Honda is to indicate folks what’s doable with hydrogen and proceed creating each the availability of retail hydrogen and the demand for it.
The primary aim is essential, as a result of—as the corporate has constantly realized over 22 years of experimenting—it can not create a hydrogen market alone, and definitely not via light-duty autos by themselves. The corporate desires to persuade governments, gasoline suppliers, industrial prospects, trucking corporations, and others to put money into the way forward for hydrogen. It confirmed us a backup generator for its knowledge middle that’s constructed from previous-generation Readability Gas Cell stacks, and touted its cope with JAXA—Japan’s NASA—to develop hydrogen infrastructure in area. It’s working with Isuzu to check a prototype semi truck on public roads in Japan this yr, and can present a U.S.-market Class 8 truck proof of idea someday quickly.
A CR-V e:FCEV in entrance of one among Honda’s hydrogen back-up mills, which makes use of Readability Gas Cell stacks.
The chances are limitless. The truth is disappointing. The economics don’t work, they usually gained’t any time quickly. Honda has not introduced pricing for the CR-V e:FCEV but, and when it does it is going to announce what’s going to virtually definitely be a extremely backed lease. The Readability Gas Cell went for $369 a month for 36 months, with $2,499 due at signing when it was launched again in 2017. That meant the shopper paid $15,783 over three years. The deal included $15,000 of free gasoline, and 21 days of free luxurious rental automobiles for street journeys. Once you’re charging $15,000 and giving $15,000 of perks on prime of the automotive, it’s clear you could’t be in it for the cash. And because the automakers have additionally realized with EVs, the fueling companions simply usually are not stepping up on their very own; now not can automotive corporations anticipate Shell and Exxon to handle their largest challenges.
The free gasoline is important as a result of hydrogen costs are thrice increased than Honda’s long-term goal for a strong market: $12 per kilogram. The gasoline makes hydrogen autos far costlier to function than fuel ones, even accounting for hydrogen’s increased effectivity. Their gasoline tanks must be a lot greater, which suggests the CR-V loses roughly 1 / 4 of it’s cargo space in comparison with an internal-combustion mannequin.
And Honda completely is not going to disclose something about how rather more costly gasoline cell autos are to construct. We tried asking about tough concepts. Or aAbout the previous-generation car’s margin. Or any comparability they may make that will shine any mild on how far we’re from price parity.
“You possibly can ask the identical query a number of methods and we will proceed to not reply it,” Joseph stated, throughout a tense Q&A session with journalists on the e:FCEV launch. The strain had nothing to do with Joseph, or the automotive, or the occasion, however with the acquainted frustrations of attempting to report on hydrogen automotive improvement.
We’re informed that the corporate is conscious of the issues, however that it’s not their job to construct infrastructure, or that it’s they usually’ve dedicated some unknown sum that might be used to construct three extra stations within the handful of cities the place these automobiles even exist. They discuss cleanliness, and carbon and by no means point out that just about all of our hydrogen is generated utilizing fossil fuels. We’re given imprecise guarantees about issues getting cheaper, and extra accessible, however no timeline for such issues taking place. Then they introduce a brand new era, and the method repeats.
The e:FCEV has “cost,” “save,” “EV,” and “auto” modes to inform the automotive the way you need it to handle the traction battery.
These corporations usually are not deceptive us. This know-how goes someplace. Ask most transportation analysts and executives they usually’ll all say that business autos, long-haul vehicles and the like will want a renewable gasoline supply that may be refilled rapidly with out inflicting long-term deterioration. Hydrogen continues to indicate outstanding promise there. Nobody desires to must juice a semi truck with a 1200kW charger the scale of a home. In a zero-emissions world, it’s a chunk of the puzzle.
We don’t but reside in a zero-emissions world, although. We reside in a single the place fossil fuels are low cost, accessible and trusted. Electrical autos nonetheless have to beat hesitation and adoption issues, however they had been spurred alongside by an plain reality: EVs are far, far cheaper to run than inner combustion autos. Hydrogen autos usually are not. No person desires to purchase them till they’re, they usually’re not going to get cheaper till folks purchase them. The phrases “rooster” and “egg” find yourself getting thrown round so much. Similar with EVs, however there’s electrical energy all over the place.
Honda added a detachable shelf attachment to show the cargo space’s hump right into a flat load ground.
That world of hydrogen vehicles and energy storage services will possible come to go. If and when fossil fuels get banned, and if and once we begin producing hydrogen in a clear approach, it’s our greatest choice for high-density, quick-refilling renewable gasoline. However Honda was 30 or 40 years early when it began on this downside again within the early 2000s, and it’s nonetheless early now. Within the meantime, all the electrical car revolution has began and reached maturity, and Honda missed the primary boat. So there’s some lingering frustration, some feeling that if the corporate hadn’t spent a lot brainpower on chasing light-duty hydrogen adoption it might be extra aggressive as we speak.
Honda executives admit they don’t know when this might be commercially viable at scale. The corporate can’t predict the longer term, and neither can I. I can’t inform you when or how hydrogen will grow to be economically viable. All I do know is that, in the interim, I don’t must care about it. Amongst all of the imprecise guarantees and the dodged questions, there’s one reality: We gained’t have a hydrogen revolution any time quickly.
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