In the latest development of the car of the future, Honda asks, “What if we made it swirly and stuff?” Hence the futuristic design shown in Japan yesterday of the newest version of Honda’s hydrogen fuel cell vehicle. Hydrogen is a contender for the fuel source of the future. Much cleaner than gasoline, its only emission is water vapor. More potent than electricity, it offers a driving range of 300 miles at this point, which will only go up.
We had thought that Honda was going to show us this vehicle at the Los Angeles Auto Show this week, but instead Honda decided to unveil it early on its home turf and reserve a special announcement about hydrogen filling stations for the L.A. Show. Filling stations are the major hurdle for hydrogen, electric, or any other gasoline vehicle successor in the U.S. As futuristic as these new cars look, they all have to fill up somewhere.
One major improvement with Honda’s new hydrogen vehicle is its ability to fit the engine entirely under the front hood. Although we take it for granted with gasoline cars, the compact nature of an engine is quite an engineering challenge, as evidenced by the massive battery packs that line the floors and rears of electric vehicles. Honda figured out a way to make it all fit, so when you show off for your neighbors in the future, you’ll be able to pop the hood and stare cluelessly at the contents just as Americans have been doing for decades.
What do you think of the striking looks of Honda’s newest hero? Could you picture it in your driveway? For those of y’all in Raleigh, stop Autopark Honda to check out the Hondas of today; they might not look as advanced as this, but they do come with top industry ratings.