Back from the Dead? The Future of EV Powered Cars.
It's a sunny afternoon and I am doing yet another lap on the famed Laguna Seca Raceway right outside of Monterey, California. I've driven here before - usually in something small, sporty and insanely fast. I've done hot laps in sports cars with a pro behind the wheel, dived deep into turns 8 and 8A - the famed Corkscrew - and watched many race here.
But today is different. I am behind the wheel of a vehicle that won't be available anytime soon at a dealership. It is one of only two vehicles in the world and is, in fact, one of the most expensive cars I have ever driven, hand's down, in my life.
What could this be? It's not a sports car but it is the future, it's the FCX, Honda's newest Fuel Cell Vehicle.
While most manufacturers won't let you drive their hydrogen vehicles unsupervised, let alone on one of the world's fastest racetracks, Honda thinks this was the right place to show off their latest technology. The FCX is a mix of carbon fiber construction, bleeding-edge technology and a smaller fuel cell stack that turns hydrogen into electricity, which in turn drives the FCX's 95kW AC synchronous motor.
The FCX on the track is silent - with just the sound of the motor spooling up - and quick, with all the torque delivered at low rpms. A bonus: the only emission coming out of the tail pipe is good old H2O, which looks cleaner than the water that comes out of the faucet in my own home.
While this may all seem perfect, hydrogen being a big buzzword these days, a few obstacles stand in its way, namely, the infrastructure to produce and deliver hydrogen that powers these types of vehicles. A few other hurdles besides infrastructure: the size of the fuel cell and the powertrain package, the short mileage range and cold weather durability. But look at Honda's first FCX from 2002 and the new model side-by-side and you can see the giant steps taken in the last six years alone.
"Honda's position is that there is not one silver bullet to the solution. We see a hydrogen fuel cell as part of the solution - zero emissions and in theory, in unlimited sustainability," says Sage Marie, a Honda spokesman. When asked what he predicts is coming in the next decade, he replies, "Hydrogen is our vision and it will become a larger part of the model mix than today. Ten years from now, I'd expect more diesels in the line up as well as more hybrids. You'll see an expansion of today's alternative fuels like diesel and natural gas. In our vision, hydrogen will be a part of that mix too."
While clean-burning diesel vehicles and gas-sipping hybrids are a handy alternative to internal combustion engines, it's electric power, while not the magic bullet, that can help us go long way to fixing not only the problem of foreign oil reliance but also lessen our greenhouse gas emissions.
The EV Vehicles of Today and Tomorrow.
A large portion of the EV vehicles on the road today are what's called Neighborhood EVs, meant to be driven at speeds under 25 miles an hour. But future highway-speed vehicles are coming soon due to high consumer demand. Why? A large portion of the buying public these days are looking for a change from their gas-powered cars and only drive from 25-50 miles a day to and from work. A perfect scenario for an EV vehicle.
Also, they look pretty darn cool. It's the coolness factor that makes people take a closer look at what electric vehicle technology has to offer because these vehicles aren't very fast, are very expensive and, without a long driving range or an easy way of refilling the batteries, somewhat impractical.
Think of these EV vehicles as Cars 1.0 and yourself as a lucky beta tester. While the technology is not there yet, you can make sure you'll be there when it does. Just wait for the hardware and software upgrades.
Here is a short list of both the here and now and what's on the horizon for the future of electric vehicles.
