Honda Motor Co. Ltd. has unveiled a new fuel-cell concept vehicle, the Honda FCV Concept (FCV). The all-new FCV production model that will be based on this concept is scheduled to go on sale in Japan by the end of March 2016 and subsequently in the US and Europe.
In addition to the FCV, Honda will further promote the application of the Smart Hydrogen Station (SHS) — a packaged hydrogen station unit that adopts Honda’s original high-differential-pressure electrolyzer.
In this way, Honda will work toward the forthcoming hydrogen society under three key concepts — ‘generate’, ‘use’ and ‘get connected’ — and continues to pursue a CO2 -free transport.
Honda views hydrogen as a high-potential, next-generation energy carrier due to the fact that hydrogen can be generated from various energy sources and is easily transportable and storable.
Based on this view, Honda has been positioning the FCV— which uses electricity generated through the chemical reaction of hydrogen and oxygen as a power source for the motor — as the ultimate environmentally friendly vehicle and taking a proactive approach to the research and development of FCVs since the late 1980s.
In 2002, the Honda FCX became the first fuel cell vehicle in the world to be certified by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the California Air Resources Board (CARB).
With these certifications, Honda began lease sales of the Honda FCX in Japan and the US.
In 2003, Honda developed the Honda FC STACK, the world’s first fuel-cell stack able to start at below-freezing temperatures.
Then in 2005, Honda became the world’s first to begin lease sales of FCVs to individual customers in the US.
Honda reveals world premier of fuel-cell concept
Honda reveals world premier of fuel-cell concept
Price cuts drive sales of Saudi-owned electric car
- Lucid delivers more vehicles than expected as it prepares to launch luxury new Gravity SUV
RIYADH: The majority Saudi-owned electric car maker Lucid delivered more vehicles than expected in the past three months as price cuts helped boost demand.
The company delivered 2,394 cars from April to June 30, above analysts’ predictions of 1,940.
Lucid produced 3,838 vehicles in the first six months of 2024 and needs to make more than 5,162 cars by end of the year to meet its annual output forecast of 9,000. It made 8,428 cars in 2023.
“I think at this point everything is shaping for them to achieve that,” said Andres Sheppard, senior equity analyst at Cantor Fitzgerald. Lucid will produce and deliver more cars in the second half of the year because of the usual seasonal effects on the industry, he said.
Demand for electric vehicles has grown more slowly than expected pace in the past year, under pressure from high borrowing costs, economic uncertainties and consumer preference for hybrid alternatives.
Lucid and the market leader Tesla have responded by slashing prices and offering incentives such as cheaper financing options. Lucid, which is 60-per-cent owned by the Public Investment Fund, the Kingdom’s sovereign wealth fund, cut the price of its flagship Air model by 10 percent in February.
Its new Gravity SUV model, a rival for Tesla's Model X, goes into production this year and will cost about $80,000.
