Honda FCX concept fuel cell car in depth, Pt. 3 - Construction and interior
Filed under: Hydrogen, Honda, AutoblogGreen Exclusive

The body structure of the Honda FCX concept is a combination of a steel lower body structure mated to a carbon-fiber composite upper structure. The production version will switch to an all steel structure to help keep costs down and simplify manufacturing. The steeply raked windshield inevitably means a really long dash board, and the risk of nasty reflections. On a sunny autumn day at Laguna Seca, reflections didn't pose a problem on the concept, hopefully this will be carried over to the production version.
(Continued after the jump)

The dashboard design uses a double deck design similar to the new Civic. The upper part houses a digital speedometer. The lower section visible through the steering wheel has a graphical display comprised of concentric rings of information. In the center is a glowing circle that appears small at idle but steadily grows and changes from blue to yellow as the load on the fuel cell increases. The right hand side shows the fuel level gauge. Click below, to see a short video of the gauge in action.
On the left is the energy gauge. As you press the accelerator, you draw energy from the cell and the battery and the bars grow clockwise around the gauge. As you back off, the gauge returns to the 9 o'clock position and then beyond counter-clockwise into the yellow zone. This region indicates that you're charging the battery via regenerative braking. Finally, to the right of the main gauge cluster is the gear indicator. The actual shifter is a paddle thats mounted to the dash. To put the car in drive, you step on the brake, pull the paddle toward you and down and the transaxle shifts into drive. Press the park button below the paddle and you're done.




One other handy feature of a car that at this time still has very limited refueling options is the built in navigation system. Built in to the center of dashboard is the nav screen. Like in the current FCX, the system will show you the location of hydrogen filling stations and give you directions to the nearest one when you need fuel. It sure beats driving around aimlessly looking for a place to fill up.
The rest of the interior is very stylish and comfortable. The seats are well shaped and a pleasure to sit in with lots of legroom and headroom even in the back. Due to the coupe-like roof-line, taller passengers have to duck their heads a bit, but once inside they have plenty of room. The rear seats are contoured for two passengers. All the seats and parts of the door panels, tunnel and various other surfaces are upholstered in Honda's new Bio-Fabric that you can read about our previous post. Overall, the level of fit and finish and the appearance is well up the standards of a top of the line Acura, and it would be easy to picture the new FCX as the next step from the RL. Up next in part four, the FCX driving experience.
















Reader Comments (Page 2 of 5)
12-28-2006 @ 9:31AM
Tim said...
Hydrogen is also about as inefficient as an energy carrier can be and the “Hydrogen Economy” is just bad science. http://www.oilcrash.com/articles/h_scam.htm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrogen_economy. Most Hydrogen comes from… Fossil Fuel! The only reason we are even talking about it is that politicians want to use our tax money to buy votes from the ignorant by “appearing” to be environmental friendly. Hydrogen production, liquefaction, storage, transfer, storage, fueling vehicles, storage, and fuel cell utilization is terribly inefficient! And now we’re carrying around highly pressurized bombs. A storage tank of this stuff is a terrorist’s dream! Politicians also push hydrogen because they want to help their buddies in Big Oil change our addiction from one drug (fossil) to another drug (Hydrogen). If they REALLY CARED, they would be putting more funding into advanced battery tech for BEV/PHEV technology. We’re much better off owing BEVs for our normal day to day driving and renting bio-diesel cars for longer trips or even renting bio-diesel Auxiliary Power Units (APU) range extenders as we need them.
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12-28-2006 @ 9:49AM
Tom said...
As digital photography loomed on the horizona few years ago, just as alternative power sources for tranportation do now, Kodak and Fuji took the lead developing cameras, chips, printers, Digital imaging papers and ribbons and everything else to maintain their positions as leaders in the imaging business. Perhaps the oil companies should do the same thing and see themselves as "energy" companies in the future. Before looking at this as a bad thing, again think about how many other companies entered the digital imaging business and have kept prices down and quality constantly soaring. At least this would be a senario we could hope to see play out in our future.
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12-28-2006 @ 9:54AM
johnny said...
The car has great style, a big plus in this day and age of copy cats. I am for any car that puts the foot up the ass of big oil. We have been raped for far to many years, over gas prices. I know with time and public support the car will be a winner. I love the forward thinking enginners at Honda. So to big oil I say go F..k yourselves, and stick your gas up your Ass.
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12-28-2006 @ 10:05AM
William Nonnamaker said...
The oceans of the world contain hydrogen and oxygen in almost unlimited quantities just waiting to be turned into energy. Much of fossil fuel lies under nations who do not like the west. We need to cut them off.
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12-28-2006 @ 10:13AM
Greg Davis said...
The need to switch from a hydrogen storage tank to water with on demand conversion to hydrogen. This already exists. Honda should check out Atris up in Canada.
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12-28-2006 @ 10:21AM
joe blow said...
I remember the hype (the "World of Tomorrow" at fairs and expos)in the 60s and 70s about the future uses of nuclear energy, including small onboard reactors to power automobiles. I guess that's still way off in the future though... or just science fiction. I also seem to recall technology which would allow for the extraction of hydrogen from water, allowing the vehicle to produce its own fuel, while only stopping to refill the H2O tank. Science or science fiction? I have a feeling this is not a realistic prediction.
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12-28-2006 @ 10:56AM
JON WYATT said...
If you build it, we will buy!!
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12-28-2006 @ 11:09AM
Thomas Hubbell said...
Hats off to a realistic approach for a better planet.
Now if we can keep the government from prohibiting home fueling stations we will be on the right track. Granted, the infrastructure for distance traveling must exist, and I hope it will be in sync with car production, but there is no reason for gas companies to monopolize the access to fuel for local travel.
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12-28-2006 @ 11:12AM
BILL said...
THIS IS A GREAT CONCEPT. HOWEVER, I SEEM TO REMEMBER A CHRYSLER CONCEPT TURBINE ENGINE THAT WOULD BURN ANYTHING COMBUSTIBLE IN THE MID 60'S. I STOOD IN LINE AT THE NEW YORK WORLD'S FAIR IN '65 FOR 2 HOURS TO GET A RIDE IN ONE AND WAS TURNED AWAY AT THE CAR DOOR BECAUSE I DID NOT HAVE A TICKET STUB FROM THE CHRYSLER THEATRE. IT WAS MY DREAM TO BUY ONE AS SOON AS FINISHED SCHOOL AND GOT A JOB. UNFORTUNATELY AFTER LOSING AN AUTO RACE BECAUSE OF A BALLBEARING, THE CONCEPT WAS LOST TO BIG OIL. ARE ALL PRECAUTIONS BEING TAKEN TO MAKE SURE THAT THIS DOES NOT HAPPEN WITH HONDA?
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12-28-2006 @ 11:22AM
rob said...
We need to get away from foreign oil. What will they eat then? Sand? We were an Independant country before..lets do it again!
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12-28-2006 @ 11:41AM
dee said...
pretty hondas but too big for me. i like my 93 honda civic,4 door. have 90k miles on it and it purrs.....
difficult to give it up. like losing a kid.and of course i am retired and dont drive across country...
i would rather fly these days. we have such terrible drives in my town; make u turns on roadways. drives me crazy wish they would learn the road law;no offense but dont think they know english. they will.
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12-28-2006 @ 12:06PM
mike said...
I have a couple of questions. 1) What sort of horsepower are we looking at? Is it strictly freeway driving? 2) What sort of acceleration rates are we looking at? Hydrogen may be the way to go, but what is the ratio of BTU's per lb of fuel? Until someone can answer those questions I will look to bio fuel.
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12-28-2006 @ 12:07PM
Derek said...
To those saying how the big 3 are behind, Google the Chevrolet Sequel. GM has their own hydrogen powered vehicle that reporters are test-driving as well.
Still, do some research on hydrogen, it just doesn't make sense! Sure it is everywhere, but it is already chemically bonded to something else. Once hydrogen is bonded to something else, it is fat dumb and happy there and does NOT want to leave. It takes a LOT of energy to break H2 loose from water. Much more energy in fact than you get back when you burn it. Trouble with hydrogen is what are you going to fuel the hydrogen refineries with?
Most of our current H2 supply comes from natural gas, so it is still a fossil fuel. To top it off, natural gas can be run in your current engine with some modifications. This is a solution that would be more effecient than converting it to H2 first but just doesn't grab the headlines...
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12-28-2006 @ 12:12PM
El Poe said...
Awesome car! It's fast, fuel effiecient, and looks pimpin'!
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12-28-2006 @ 12:20PM
Gary Gilbert said...
Great to have anyhthing that helps to break our oil dependence. The problems have been mentioned here. Safety,cost,refueling problems,lack of range,etc.. The "hydrogen from water" car is the real future. It may be another 5 to 10 years away and for now Honda has stepped up to the plate.
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12-28-2006 @ 12:25PM
Ken Franklin said...
With no hydrogen infrastructure, this concept has to be considered a pipe dream for the foreseeable future. In my 'umble opinion, the best place to put R&D dollars for now is plug-in hybrids. They're coming very soon, and promise mpg numbers over 60. No change in infrastructure, no technological barriers. Just tweaking the Insight/Prius model.
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12-28-2006 @ 12:42PM
Roger Shelor said...
Has anyone priced distilled water lately at the store. The water you drink and the water in the ocean is a lot different, so I imagine the water you have to use in the fuel will be much like distilled. I don't think they want any impurities in this, so imagine what the cost will start to be when they start fueling everything with it. Nothing is free in this day and age. Good luck, and maybe our grand children will be able to make it work.
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12-28-2006 @ 1:08PM
Larry K. Floyd said...
I would appreciate it if you could include some sort of graphic illustration of exactly how a hydrogen fuel cell works along with a chart of cost per mile comparison with diesel, ethanol, and 87 Octane gasoline. I believe that Hydrogen is the answer for our fuel needs. Please include me in any information as I drive 50,000 miles per year and will gladly jump in when the cost of running per mile is equivelant to 60 miles per gallon at a price of $2.34/gallon.
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12-28-2006 @ 1:24PM
Acabaretlady, Perdido Key FL said...
The Honda FCX interior sounds interesting. I can't wait for 2008 to buy one. However, the rear passenger’s seats look a bit cramped with not much leg room. Thoughts of Honda keeping the costs down are admirable. The overall Car design seems stylish and comfortable. But, if it’s going to be a luxury model, it needs a bit more "bling."
I would prefer the current Acura's design to this one. I hope a substitute of the same hydrogen fuel power will be available in future for Acura–like designed cars.
In conclusion, a purchase of the Honda FCX excites me. Thank you. I now own an Acura, and I await the 2008’s release of this .
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12-28-2006 @ 1:38PM
Keith Newton said...
With the baby boomers getting to the point where they are less willing to drive much as they get older and the need for vehicles that can be used by persons other than people whom can pilot a car it is time that car makers get the hint and make cars that drive themselves. It will open up great markets all over the world by letting the elderly or young or drunk to travel in their cars without the ticket or dui now available at your local speed trap or dui checkpoint. How about it guys! My 88 year old mother inlaw is still driving and I hope she stays off of the side walks while doing so. No matter what the fuel we still need to make these things drive themselves. It is silly to keep risking all of our lives everyday just to go somewhere. With computers at the pilot seat we could do something like read the paper or work or whatever while getting to where we need to be. Bring them on guys we are dying to have cars do all the work.
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