2011 Honda Pilot. Ex-l. Leather. Sunroof. Dvd. Backup Camera. Free Shipping L@@k on 2040-cars

Auto blog

SAE World Congress: Honda FCEV fuel cell stack has cells just 1 mm thin

The only update we have for people who are paying ultra-close attention to the progress of the hydrogen-powered Honda FCEV concept is that we now know how thin the individual cells in the car's fuel cell stack are. Speaking at the 2015 SAE World Congress in Detroit this week, American Honda Motor Company Manager of fuel cell vehicle marketing, Steve Ellis, told AutoblogGreen that the fuel cell stack is now 33-percent smaller and offers a 60-percent improvement in power density. We knew this already. What we didn't know is how Honda got there. Ellis said that these improvements are due in part to a reduction in the size of the fuel cell thickness. Each cell in the stack is one millimeter thick, he said. For everyone who isn't counting the millimeters of this car, here's the broader situation. Honda and the state of California (and others) are working hard on getting H2 infrastructure up can running. "The stations are accelerating as we speak," Ellis said. Three new stations have opened in the last few months and the state has pledged $20 million per year until there are 100 stations in California. Honda has also invested in FirstElement to install stations. The production FCEV will feature a range of over 300 miles and have a three-to-five minute refueling time. The car will launch in Japan in March 2016, with US and European sales starting at some unspecified time after that.

McLaren collaborating with Honda future road cars?

McLaren and Honda may expand their alliance beyond the world of Formula 1, according a report from the UK's Autocar, which quotes McLaren CEO Martin Whitmarsh.
Citing the multi-year deal, Whitmarsh remarked at last weekend's Hungarian Grand Prix, "It's a pure Formula 1 contract, but we've already been looking at automotive technology and we're sharing that very openly. Our road car strategy at the moment has no other automotive partner and Honda would be a good place to collaborate."
Still, we wouldn't count on seeing a McLaren-Honda road car in the near future. According to Autocar, McLaren's road-car division is already tied up working on a rival for the Porsche 911, called the P13.

Honda invests $470 million for new transmission plant in Mexico

Honda has announced that it has made an initial investment of $470 million to build a brand new transmission plant in Ceyala, Mexico. For those keeping track, this is the same city that will also house Honda's new automobile manufacturing facility, which will begin production of the Fit compact beginning in the spring of 2014.
This new transmission plant is expected to come online in the second half of 2015, with an annual production capacity of 350,000 units, though that number is expected to double in the years following the plant's opening. With a 700,000-unit production capacity, Honda says a full 1,500 new associates will be hired at the Mexican plant.
Honda will specifically use this new transmission plant for the production of CVTs for automobiles built in Mexico, as well as for cars produced in facilities around the world. It stands to reason, then, that since the next-generation Honda Fit will be built right around the corner from these new CVTs, the small hatchback - which is expected to grow into a full family of vehicles - could be fitted with continuously variable units in the future.