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HyFive hydrogen infrastructure gets $51M boost across Europe

"High five!" was one of the catch-phrases of Sacha Baron Cohen's Kazakh comedic alter ego Borat. A real-world HyFive is being announced by a power broker named Boris. And this is serious business. London Mayor Boris Johnson has announced a program called HyFive, which will see automakers and other entities invest 31 million British pounds ($51 million US) in a demonstration project for hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles. By next year, London will have three hydrogen refueling stations, while there will be one each in the Danish cities of Aarhus and Odense and one in Innsbruck, Austria. Leaders of the program are planning for other stations in Sweden, Germany and Italy. The five participating automakers are BMW, Mercedes-Benz parent Daimler, Honda, Hyundai and Toyota, while other companies involved include Copenhagen Hydrogen Network, ITM Power and Linde. Those OEMs will make 110 fuel-cell vehicles available for deployment in Bolzano, Copenhagen, Innsbruck, London, Munich and Stuttgart. The program represents an effort to address the "chicken or egg?" challenge inherent to establishing a hydrogen fuel cell vehicle market. While the powertrain technology provides benefits by combining fossil-fuel-like refueling times with long driving ranges and zero emissions, establishing a refueling network and building fuel-cell vehicles is prohibitively expensive, especially in low volumes. The London mayor is no stranger to green transportation technology. Late last year, Johnson made himself available for a photo opportunity with Ecotive and Frazer-Nash, which had developed a six-passenger extended-range plug-in taxicab. The mayor got a test drive in the cabs this week. You can check out the HyFive press release below. Global leaders sign up to GBP31m plan to demonstrate viability of hydrogen vehicles International project HyFive pioneers hydrogen fuel cell technology A pioneering GBP31 million deal will be struck today (3 April) to make hydrogen vehicles a viable and environmentally friendly choice for motorists across Europe. Leading motor manufacturers, hydrogen fuel suppliers, the Mayor of London's Office and energy consultancies from around the globe are signing up to the HyFive project, the largest of its kind in Europe, at City Hall in London today.

Honda Clarity is your new fuel cell future vehicle [w/video]

We know it will go on sale in the US next spring. We know it will have an estimated range of over 300 miles. We know it will start sales in California, since that's where the hydrogen stations are. But perhaps the one key details about Honda's new fuel cell vehicle that we are learning today is the name. It will be the Honda Clarity Fuel Cell. That should ring a few H2 bells for hydrogen vehicle fans out there, since the fuel cell vehicle that Honda has been leasing since 2008 was called the FCX Clarity (and the hydrogen test vehicle before that was the FCX). Naming the new vehicle - known until now as the FCEV - the new Clarity draws a clear line through to Honda's hydrogen history. This is a completely different message than the one that Toyota is sending with the name for its upcoming hydrogen car, the Mirai. In Japanese, Mirai means future. It is also interesting to note that Honda is not going to target regular consumers with the Clarity during the first year, at least in Japan. Honda says that it will work "mainly" with local governments and business customers that have shown an interest in hydrogen technology and will begin sales to individual customers "later." The five-seat Clarity Fuel Cell will come in three colors: Premium Brilliant Garnet Metallic, White Orchid Pearl, and Crystal Black Pearl. Honda says that the price, in Japan, will be 7.6 million yen, including consumption tax. That equals $63,610 in the US, but we all know these prices cannot simply be converted like this to arrive at the US MSRP. Still, now we have a guideline. At this time, Honda does not plan to sell the vehicle, since, the Clarity will be "currently available exclusively for lease sales." We got to take a brief drive in the FCEV this past week, and you can read more about the technological advances in the new Clarity (the smaller fuel cell stack, the powertrain packaging, etc.) here. The fact that Honda consistently calls the new car the Clarity Fuel Cell (as opposed to simply the Clarity) gives us reason to think that the upcoming PHEV and all-electric models will not only share a chassis, but also perhaps a name. Clarity EV, anyone? Honda Exhibits World Premiere of CLARITY FUEL CELL, Planned Production Model of its All-new Fuel Cell Vehicle, at 44th Tokyo Motor Show 2015 -- Lease sales in Japan will begin in March 2016 -- TOKYO, Japan, October 28, 2015 - Honda Motor Co., Ltd.

2015 Honda CR-V

Predicting the future direction of Honda's compact CR-V would have been difficult based on the Civic-derived model that first arrived on our shores for the 1997 model year. The newcomer, selling alongside the body-on-frame Passport (a hastily rebadged Isuzu Rodeo), was a cute compact crossover with four doors and an awkward curb-side hinged tailgate thanks to its Japanese home-market design. The five-passenger CUV offered generous interior room, but its wheezy 2.0-liter four-cylinder, with an output of just 126 horsepower and 133 pound-feet of torque, required 11.7 seconds to bring the 3,153-pound vehicle to 60 miles per hour. Rear drum brakes didn't help much in the stopping department, but Honda offered safety-minded consumers optional anti-lock brakes on the premium trim.
Nearly two decades after its introduction, the CR-V has matured in spectacular manner. The refreshed 2015 Honda CR-V, now in its fourth generation, is dimensionally within two inches of its ancestor in overall length and nearly identical in height and wheelbase. That consistency of dimension is impressive in this age of size and segment creep, and it stands as a testament to how 'right' Honda engineers got the model's original packaging. Of course, the CR-V hasn't stood still - nearly everything else about the best-selling compact CUV has improved in leaps and bounds.
But Honda is not the only player in this hotly contested segment today, so the automaker has taken the unusual step of updating its fourth-generation model just a few years after its introduction in an effort to keep it seated on the podium. To learn more about the automaker's improvements, and form our own impressions, we spent a day driving the CR-V in sunny Southern California.