Japan makes Honda's FCX fuelcell-powered car street legal
By Ryan Block 
posted Dec 20th 2004 11:23AM
posted Dec 20th 2004 11:23AM
Now it's only a matter of hours before these things are buzzing silently down Tokyo highways at 4:00 a.m., since
Japan's gone and made Honda's FCX fuel cell-powered car officially street legal. Apparently much of the hold up was due
to subzero fuel cell operation, but Honda's got it all worked out, and they even managed to further increase the
engine's efficiency, so now the FCX transforms twice as much energy to torque as a hybrid, and three times as much as a
gas-powered engine. Not bad, but can we please skip to the insane car mods now? Thanks.
[Via Akihabara News]
I'm lazy and didn't click thru the link, but from looking at that picture, it looks like all that fuel cell paraphanalia takes up all of the passanger side of the car. I'm guessing it's just one of those see-thru drawings just to show off the equipment, but i'll be damned if i can tell.
Number of occupants 4 persons
Maximum speed 150km/h
Motor Max. output 80kW(109PS)
Max. torque 272N/m(27.7kg/m)
Type AC synchronous electric (Honda-made)
Fuel cell stack Type Proton Exchange Membrane fuel cell (Honda-made)
Output 86kW
Fuel Type Compressed hydrogen gas
Storage High-pressure hydrogen tank (350 atmospheres)
Capacity 156.6 liters
Dimensions(LxWxH,mm) 4165 x 1760 x 1645
Energy storage Ultra capacitor (Honda-made)
Vehicle range* 430km
It still has 4 seats, don't worry.
So what happens when this thing gets rear-ended and the tanks are breached? Does it blow up?
Gotta see beaterz.com for insane mods.
It does look quite a lot like a super stealthy bomb mod waiting to happen...
Why don't they tell the weight? It would be very interesting how many tons this fuel cell equipment weighs. There must be a reason why such a small car needs a 80 kW engine, while maximum speed is only 150 km/h.
"what happens when this thing gets rear-ended...?" I use 300 BAR tanks for storing air -- when these are breached, they don't explode but release the air through the wrappings (carbon fiber/fiberglass/kevlar/...). The hydrogen would still be flammable, but these tanks are incredibly tough -- it took something like 15000psi to cause the failure in the one I saw while it was rated for 4500psi (300BAR).