Honda builds hydrogen powered car at tenth of previous cost

October 27, 2015
An earlier version of the Honda FCV (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)

An earlier version of the Honda FCV (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)

By Brian Han

A hydrogen powered car that can travel 400 miles on a single tank while only emitting water vapor. This is Honda’s newest toy and they have managed to produce it at just 10 percent of what it previously cost.

Honda’s Fuel Cell Hydrogen (FCV) actually looks like a car that would be driven on the road, which previous iterations had trouble doing.

No longer is the engine awkwardly sized and shaped. Instead it is smaller and fits neatly into the frame allowing for more space for passengers and whatever they may need to carry.

The progress also opens up the possibility of putting hydrogen fuel cells into existing car frames and the company says that cars using this technology could very well be on the road by 2016.

The main question now is how quickly will hydrogen fill-up stations become available on a practical scale?

At the moment, a handful of private companies are using government grants to manufacture and install these resources for early bird consumers in California and parts of the U.S. Northeast.

The latest version of the Honda FCV will be officially revealed to the public on Wednesday at the Tokyo Motor Show.