Mar 17, 2009

Getting a Clear View of the Honda Clarity

Talk about hydrogen-powered fuel cell vehicles is a lot like an extended weather forecast. The proof lies somewhere in the future -- at a time when we might not remember what was predicted in the first place. We hear a lot about the advantages of fuel-cell cars, not the least of which is that they emit only water vapor. Many say they are the future, but the Honda FCX Clarity fuel-cell vehicle is in the here and now. The model is currently being leased to not-so-average consumers, like the actress Jamie Lee Curtis, and we got our chance to live with one of these cars as our daily driver for a week. And now we can report that the driving experience was exhilarating, promising and a little maddening all at once.    

On the exhilarating-promising side, the vehicle is such a sweetheart to drive that it spoils you for even the best conventionally powered cars. It doesn’t offer much horsepower, but the application of power from its 100-kilowatt electric motor is joyously seamless, so the car feels quick. Horsepower of 134 isn’t much to push around 3,500 pounds of automobile, but we never got the impression that the car was slow. And from its avant-garde exterior design to its well-equipped, bio-friendly cabin, the FCX Clarity is a joy to live with. It carries four passengers with ease and offers reasonable trunk space, though the hydrogen fuel tanks eliminate a trunk pass-through. The only maddening aspect is its limited, 200-mile driving range and the fact that hydrogen fuel is not readily available. Hydrogen filling stations are scarcer than Republicans in the Senate, and that means that any extended driving requires significant ruminations on logistics. In fact, some places you just can get to from here…yet.