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http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/11/08/bloomberg/sxhonda.phpHonda creating home system for drivers to make hydrogen
By Alan Ohnsman
Bloomberg News
Thursday, November 8, 2007
TOKYO: Honda Motor, aiming to start mass production of fuel-cell cars by about 2015, is developing a system using solar energy for drivers to make hydrogen at home to fuel such vehicles.
Individual production of hydrogen would let people refuel their cars without waiting for a network of stations to be set up, the company's president, Takeo Fukui, said.
Automakers, under pressure to cut carbon dioxide emissions tied to global warming and tailpipe exhaust, are seeking alternatives to oil as prices approach $100 a barrel.
Honda, Toyota Motor and General Motors have all said hydrogen powered autos are a long-term option, though they are costly to build and lack a refueling infrastructure.
"Our ultimate goal is to use a renewable source of energy as a source of fuel," Masaaki Kato, the president of research and development at Honda, said. "So we use solar panels to generate electricity and we use the electricity to produce hydrogen."
Honda, the second-largest automaker in Japan, plans Wednesday to unveil a fuel-cell vehicle based on its prototype FCX sports car at the Los Angeles Auto Show.
In 2008, the new car initially will be leased "to fewer than 100" people, most in California, Fukui said Oct. 23.
While producing hydrogen from solar-powered electrolysis would cut carbon dioxide emissions, it is not yet possible to do it cheaply or in sufficient quantity, said a chemistry professor, Nate Lewis, who is also an energy researcher at the California Institute of Technology.
"You need to do that cheaply and scalably - neither of which we are even close to being able to do technically now," Lewis said.
Honda began selling solar panels in Japan earlier this year to make electricity for homes.
The panels, priced at ¥57,500, or $509, each, substitute a thin metal layer for silicone typically used in photovoltaic panels to reduce production costs and lower the energy needed to make them, Honda said.
Honda has no "specific" plan to commercialize a home-based hydrogen-generation system, Kato said. Still, it could be ready for consumers within 10 years, according to Fukui.
"We believe this should bring a breakthrough in providing infrastructure for fuel-cell vehicles," Fukui said.
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