TOKYO AP- Honda is expanding the use of hydrogen to include trucks and construction equipment, electricity for buildings and even outer space, not just cars on the roads.
Honda Motor Co. plans to sell a new fuel cell vehicle next year, which is packed with a fuel cell stack developed by General Motors Co. of the U.S. General Manager, Testsuya Hasebe, told reporters Thursday.
He said that it will lower the cost of the fuel cell stack to a third of what it is now. By 2030, Honda's fuel cell costs will be comparable to diesel engines, Hasebe said.
The fuel cell stack, which charges faster than previous versions, will be produced in Ohio and will be shipped to other North American and Japan sites, said Arata Ichinose, its operating executive.
All the world's automakers, including Tesla, are coming up with electric vehicles and those that run on fuel cells and hybrid systems that switch between a gas engine and a green technology.
Fuel cells are powered by hydrogen and are emissions-free.
Fuel cells are efficient in producing energy and so they are a good emission-free solution, said Hasebe, who oversees the development of the hydrogen business at Honda.
Honda was one of the pioneers in fuel cells, showing a prototype car in 1998 and its first market product in 2002.
Honda plans to provide its fuel stack to JAXA, or Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, which is the nation's equivalent of NASA. Honda is working with Japanese truck maker Isuzu Motors in China and has begun tests with Dongfeng Motor. This month, Honda's fuel cell provided electricity to a Honda site in the U.S.
Honda's announcement on fuel cells shows how Japanese automakers have insisted on working on different solutions to climate change, not just electric vehicles.