Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Suck it, Prius! (A Quick Thought)

As a car and motorcycle guy, I really do hope this car represents the future of consumer vehicles.


This is the Honda FCX Clarity. (See here for more.) It's powered by an electric motor that gets its juice from an on-board hydrogen fuel cell instead of batteries or a tiny gasoline engine. The fuel cell makes its electricity by combining compressed hydrogen with oxygen, meaning the only thing that comes out of the "exhaust" is vaporized water.

The thing that makes this car better than the Toyota Prius, however, is that to refill it with hydrogen takes about the same time as it does to fill the tank on an average internal combustion automobile. Therefore, this thing is way more practical than the standard electric car that runs on batteries. And since the Toyota Prius is a hybrid (which means it has a gas engine as well as an electric motor), it has a much greater carbon footprint than the Clarity.

James May of Top Gear fame believes this is the most important car produced in decades, (LOOK!) and I agree with him. Cars like this will be the saviors of our motoring future.



peace.

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