Honda creating home system for drivers to make hydrogen
TOKYO: Honda Motor, aiming to start mass production of fuel-cell cars by
about 2015, is developing a system using solar energy for drivers to make
hydrogen at home to fuel such vehicles.
Individual production of hydrogen would let people refuel their cars without
waiting for a network of stations to be set up, the company's president,
Takeo Fukui, said.
Automakers, under pressure to cut carbon dioxide emissions tied to global
warming and tailpipe exhaust, are seeking alternatives to oil as prices
approach $100 a barrel.
Honda, Toyota Motor and General Motors have all said hydrogen powered autos
are a long-term option, though they are costly to build and lack a refueling
infrastructure.
"Our ultimate goal is to use a renewable source of energy as a source of
fuel," Masaaki Kato, the president of research and development at Honda,
said. "So we use solar panels to generate electricity and we use the
electricity to produce hydrogen."
Honda, the second-largest automaker in Japan, plans Wednesday to unveil a
fuel-cell vehicle based on its prototype FCX sports car at the Los Angeles
Auto Show.
In 2008, the new car initially will be leased "to fewer than 100" people,
most in California, Fukui said Oct. 23.
While producing hydrogen from solar-powered electrolysis would cut carbon
dioxide emissions, it is not yet possible to do it cheaply or in sufficient
quantity, said a chemistry professor, Nate Lewis, who is also an energy
researcher at the California Institute of Technology.
"You need to do that cheaply and scalably - neither of which we are even
close to being able to do technically now," Lewis said.
Honda began selling solar panels in Japan earlier this year to make
electricity for homes.
The panels, priced at ¥57,500, or $509, each, substitute a thin metal layer
for silicone typically used in photovoltaic panels to reduce production
costs and lower the energy needed to make them, Honda said.
Honda has no "specific" plan to commercialize a home-based
hydrogen-generation system, Kato said. Still, it could be ready for
consumers within 10 years, according to Fukui.
"We believe this should bring a breakthrough in providing infrastructure for
fuel-cell vehicles," Fukui said.
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