New Solar Hydrogen Station for “Honda FCX” Fuel Cell Car

Honda FCX Clarity

The Honda FCX (Fuel Cell eXperimental) debuted several years ago to add to a particular niche in the market, that of hydrogen fuel cell automobiles. Honda has now developed and installed a new solar hydrogen station at its Los Angeles research center to provide free hydrogen to the FCX. Read on to find out more about this latest bit of news from Honda.

The new solar hydrogen station…

..has a 6-kilowatt solar panel array and electricity generated from this is used to power the electrolyzer and generate hydrogen and also to power the compressor which pressurizes the hydrogen. What’s available to refill the FCX is the nonpeak capacity electricity from the grid, which is only a very small amount.

Honda's new hydrogen station uses a solar panel array for power. (Credit: Honda)

How small?

About half a kilogram of hydrogen will be added to the FCX’ tank over a period of eight hours overnight! That’s a very small amount over a considerable time period!

Is that of any use?

According to Honda this amount is good enough for most drivers’ daily commutes. The hydrogen capacity of the FCX tank is 4 kg with a range of 240 miles. As such 0.5 kg will power the car for a distance of about 30 miles.

Public hydrogen stations…

Usually take only about 5 minutes to completely fill the tank of a hydrogen fuel cell vehicle. Compared to that the efficiency and usefulness of this new station is certainly something to ponder.