Can you picture yourself in this car? Honda officials say the FCX prototype is pretty close to the production fuel-cell car that will be available in limited distribution in 2008.
That's what happened to 17-year-old Q'Orianka Kilcher of Southern California.
The young actress, who starred as Indian princess Pocahontas in 2006's film "The New World," had met Honda officials at an alternative fuels conference. She impressed on them that she was passionate about environmentally friendly vehicles and wanted her first car to be one with no harmful emissions.
Honda already had leased an FCX fuel-cell car—certified as a zero-emission vehicle—to a Southern California family of four and found it worked well as a real-life showcase vehicle. Indeed, over the first year, the Spallino family had only one needed repair, and that was for something any car could get—a flat tire.
The idea that a second, high-tech FCX could go to someone in the Los Angeles area who would present a decidedly different image—youthful and hip—appealed to the car company.
But, they had to wait until Kilcher got her driver's license.
Now, Kilcher, who fortunately lives close to a hydrogen refueling station in Santa Monica, is the only teenager in the world whose first car is powered by hydrogen gas going through fuel cells. In electrochemical reactions in the cells, the hydrogen electrons and protons are split and electricity is generated to power the car. The only emission in this ultra environmentally friendly car is water.
Related Link: Read: Test Driving the Honda FCX
"She's articulate and passionate about the car," Honda spokesman Sage Marie said.
That's not the half of it. Kilcher was dazzled when presented with her new car, saying that when she started thinking about how to get an environmentally friendly vehicle, "it seemed like a pretty unrealistic dream."
You Could Get a Chance, Too
Sometime in 2008, other consumers who dream about fuel cells will be able to join Kilcher and the Spallinos as retail customers for a Honda FCX.
The company, which has been researching fuel-cell vehicles for more than 20 years, plans to begin limited FCX marketing that year, though it won't yet pin down exactly what month it might start delivering vehicles to retail customers.
This would put Honda in the history books as the first automaker with retail customers in a fuel-cell vehicle.
Honda officials won't even say when potential customers will get to sign up for the cars. But look for more information to come out in the fall of 2007.
Not Free, Though
Yes, you will have to pay, just as the Spallinos and Kilcher pay. While details for consumers aren't released yet, the Spallinos and Kilcher each signed a lease agreement and pay $500 a month for the use of the cars.
Besides the monthly lease payments, there's another $500 to $600 a year in liability insurance. But Honda handles collision coverage because, well, there just aren't easily available replacement parts for a fuel-cell car like the FCX.
Why charge these early drivers? Honda officials said they wanted even these early FCX cars to be viewed, and treated, as regular cars. And that requires that consumers pay for it.
It's not clear yet what insurance provisions will be available for the 2008 retail FCX cars.
Limited Distribution
Don't look for Honda fuel-cell cars in every town, or even every state.
With pressurized hydrogen gas needed to fuel the FCX, Honda won't be able to distribute FCX cars nationwide, only in certain regions.
For example, Southern California is a shoo-in as one area because it has several hydrogen refueling stations, so FCX drivers will find fuel available. (One tankful of compressed hydrogen should be good for up to 300 miles of driving.)
Consumers Will Get Latest Model
Kilcher as well as Jon Spallino, wife Sandy, and daughters Adrianna and Anna ride in boxy, 3-door FCX hatchbacks.
They're roadworthy and meet government safety requirements. This FCX model also was the first fuel-cell car certified by emissions officials in California and Washington, D.C. for everyday commercial use.
But the FCX planned for 2008 is a larger, 4-door vehicle with aerodynamic shape, sleek styling, more spacious interior and lower-to-the-pavement seating.
Jon and Sandy Spallino, with more than a year behind the wheel of the old FCX, can't wait to take the newer model home that has more power, better weight balance, smaller fuel stack size and mass and improved efficiency and mileage range.
They also like the fact the new FCX has a decent-sized trunk. Sandy Spallino said in their current FCX hatchback, she sometimes has to stack her groceries carefully to fit them all behind the rear seats of the hatchback.
The Spallino daughters, who now climb into the back seat through single side doors, like the four, sedan-like doors on the new FCX and the increased rear legroom.
And if Jon Spallino's reaction to driving a prototype of the next FCX is any indication, Honda will provide a comfortable drive in a space-age interior.
Accompanied by MSN's test drive, he couldn't stop grinning the whole time he drove, and he marveled at how much more stable, more hunkered down to the pavement, the vehicle felt compared with his current FCX.
He also liked the more upscale appearance of the interior vis-a-vis the more-functional car interior he has now.
Ann Job is a freelance automotive writer.
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