Honda Motor has announced it has begun production of the new FCX Clarity Fuel Cell vehicle, with the first vehicle coming off the line. In conjunction with the line-off event, Honda has released details from the production line.
The FCX Clarity is produced at the Honda Automobile New Model Center in Takanezawa-machi, Shioya-gun in the Tochigi Prefecture, where a new dedicated fuel cell vehicle assembly line was established. The line includes processes unique to a fuel cell vehicle as installation of the fuel cell stack and the hydrogen tank.
The fuel cell stack is produced at Honda Engineering in Haga-machi, Haga-gun also in the Tochigi Prefecture. In manufacturing fuel cell, exclusively designed automated equipment was introduced to ensure quality of the highest precision, while enabling mass production of cell, with several hundred of cells required for each stack. Through these initiatives, Honda is making steady progress in the area of fuel cell vehicle production, in addition to fuel cell and fuel cell vehicle technologies, thereby moving closer to realizing its goal to achieve more widespread use of fuel cell vehicles.
The FCX Clarity was designed from scratch as a dedicated fuel cell vehicle. It is powered by the highly compact, efficient and powerful Honda V Flow fuel cell stack. Boasting a low-slung, dynamic and sophisticated appearance made possible by the innovative layout of the fuel cell power plant, the FCX Clarity offers superior design and driving performance as well as environmental responsibility.
Lease sales are scheduled to begin in July in the U.S. and this fall in Japan. The combined sales plan for Japan and the U.S. calls for a dozen units within a year and about 200 units within three years.
The FCX Clarity will be exhibited athe Environmental Showcase in the G8 Hokkaido Toyako Summit to begin July 7th.
