Go Honda Go!

New FCX fuel cell vehicle from Honda being released in the near future... HOT!

http://hydrogenpowernews.com/2006/01/10/honda-announces-plans-for-fcx-hydrogen-fuel-cell-car/

"Honda is also developing the HES, or Home Energy Station, which produces hydrogen from natural gas for fuel cell vehicles along with heat and electricity for the house. The HES may make cars such as the FCX somewhat more practical due to the complete lack of a hydrogen infrastructure at the present time. "



< That is an HES and that is a side-view pic of the FCX with a tranlucent shell. You can see that the mechanics, power source and drivetrain of this car all sit at wheel level. These cars are typically drive-by-wire (F1 car technology that basically receives inputs from the wheel and pedals and translates that into movement... think computer mice or joysticks) so the interior/exterior design is totally up in the air. Change shells on the car, turn it into a van, pick-up, sports car... whatever.

As for the HES... think about our gasoline infrastructure today. We have around 180,000 gas stations in our country, none of which currenly pump hydrogen, are set up for hydrogen or even considered hydrogen when they were built. Changing them over would be very expensive and require government subsidies. But think about how hydrogen is created: you need water and electricity. Water comes to your home as does electricity. But go one step further... you've heard of solar-powered homes before, right? There are kits on the market now to install solar panels on your house and new technology coming out that faces micro-mirrors at the sun all day long gathering as much power as possible. Combine your own power source with the regular water coming into your home and you have a car that "runs on water" (put very simply).

Now think about all the buildings around you. What are the roofs being used for? Every building could literally be a hydrogen filling station. The fun part of this equation is that, with the money for the system, I could have that tomorrow. Between solar power and fuel cell technology, both of which exist, if I had the vehicle, I could make it work for myself. There's also the interesting quality of fuel cells which allows them to easily run the reaction in reverse. Pump water and electricity INTO your fuel cell car and it spits out hydrogen. Screw the filling station at your house, you could connect a water hose and a plug and your car will fill itself up at night!! THAT CAN HAPPEN RIGHT NOW, this isn't Star Trek sh*t!

Whew... got a little excited there!