Honda says it is planning on launching a hydrogen fuel cell vehicle (FCEV) based on the CR-V in the United States as soon as next year, while giving us an update on its hydrogen business.
Honda says that it is intent on expanding the hydrogen side of its business, and is working alongside automotive giant, General Motors, to double the durability of its powertrain designs and reduce production costs to one-third of where they currently stand.
The company hopes to produce at least 2000 vehicles powered by a hydrogen fuel cell in the next two years, with the ultimate goal of hitting 60,000 vehicles by 2030 and hundreds of thousands of FCEV vehicles by 2035.
By the look of it, Honda is hoping that a fuel cell variant of the US-spec CR-V SUV will do the majority of the legwork in the early days, and while it hasn’t given us any specs to report on, the confirmation alone is quite a big announcement.
The company has said that its FCEV would be fitted with a charging port atop its zero-emissions powertrain, meaning owners could top up the compact lithium-ion battery at home.
Honda says that it is looking to target both the passenger and commercial vehicle segment with its fuel cells, as well as heavy-duty construction machinery and even power stations.
The company has already teamed up with Isuzu Motors and the Donfeng Motor Group to build and test prototype commercial vehicles powered by a fuel cell, but hasn’t given us a timeline for any Honda-branded heavy machinery just yet.
