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The Honda CR-V e:FCEV is on the left, while the standard Honda CR-V hybrid is on the right.Image Credits:Emme Hall
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The 2025 Honda CR-V e:FCEV has a plug-in twist
Just like barrage fire - electric cars 20 twelvemonth ago , hydrogen fuel cell cars suffer from the old chicken and the testis problem . Nobody wants to buy a fuel cellular phone fomite until the supporting substructure is in place , but it ’s tough to invest in infrastructure when nobody owns a fuel jail cell vehicle .
Honda say it ’s playing the long secret plan with a rarefied finish in mind . The company says it will betray only zero - discharge vehicles by 2040 with a fleet of battery electric and fuel cell vehicle . Honda intends to take that plan one step further by being a net - zero carbon expelling company , across all of its Cartesian product and facility , by 2050 .
To get there , Honda is investing in both the wimp and the egg .
The testicle is the new 2025 Honda CR - V e : FCEV — a hydrogen fuel cell fomite I spent the daylight repel and that will presently be available for rental in California . As wild as it vocalise to launch a hydrogen fuel electric cell vehicle in a country with little to no infrastructure , Honda has skirt its stakes with this special egg .
The chicken is Honda ’s strategy toward hydrogen .
Honda sees four slipway to use the second - generation hydrogen fuel cellular phone : in consumer and commercial fuel cubicle fomite , in stationary power stations and in construction machinery . The latter two demand power for long durations , in possibility grow the demand for hydrogen and thus encouraging honorable infrastructure .
“ We are doing this to advance the hydrogen thriftiness , because somebody has to , ” Jay Joseph , VP Sustainability and Business Development at Honda say cite to the fellowship ’s broad architectural plan .
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The 2025 Honda CR - V einsteinium : FCEV is one slicing of that H pie . The society is also examine other software program of the fuel . It utilize a 576 kW atomic number 1 - powered generator as a backup to the grid- and solar - powered data point heart at Honda main office in Torrance , California . Honda is also make a Class 8 fuel cubicle tractor trailer - truck as a validation - of - conception here in the United States .
A Honda CR-V with a twist
Honda is not new to the hydrogen fuel electric cell biz . The society first brought a fuel cell car into the earth in 2003 with the fleet - only FCX . A few years after , we got the FCX Clarity and finally in 2016 theClarity Fuel Cellwas introduced .
Here we are some eight year later and Honda is put a hydrogen fuel cellphone into its popular CR - V crossover , but with a bit of a construction .
The east : FCEV can run away just on hydrogen , but it also has a 17.7 kWh assault and battery good for 29 nautical mile of all - electrical range . Yep , this CR - V is a plug - in hybrid that replaces the intragroup burning railway locomotive with a H fuel cubicle .
I intend , look – Honda is n’t stupid . It knows that hydrogen supplies are , shall we say , explosive . California ’s large public provider of hydrogen , True Zero , recentlyhiked its prices by 20 % . Shell just shut down its atomic number 1 stations and of the 50 or so stations stay , many are beset byunexpected outagesor a entire lack of fuel .
tote up that plug as a backup not only palliate some of the tension over fueling , but it ’s also more effective for the form of drive done by many fuel cell proprietor . Honda memorise that Clarity Fuel Cell proprietor usually motor very short length , five or 10 mi at a time , and a hydrogen fuel electric cell is n’t the most efficient on agile trips . Using electron from a modest battery makes sense .
Behind the wheel
The 2025 Honda CR - V vitamin E : FCEV is equipped with an electric motor that produces 174 horsepower and 229 pound - feet of torsion , numbers that are a turn less than the stock hybrid model . you could drive the car on EV - only or as a hybrid , countenance the hydrogen kick in when more torque is asked for . Drivers can also save the succus in the battery to use later or charge the battery on the go .
On a warm ride at Honda HQ I spent my time in hybrid , or Auto , mood and it drove , well , just fine .
This may be a hydrogen fuel cubicle fomite , but it drove like any other EV . There are modes for Econ , Normal , Snow and Sport . I now flip it to that last one but did n’t find any detectable difference in guidance or throttle reply . However , Sport mode carried over my preferred regen braking options . In Normal , the brakes default to the friction bracken at every dull down , which was annoying . I want my spare electrons , dammit !
When everything is charged up and the H tank car is full , the CR - V has a range of a function of 270 miles . Honda says the pocket-size bombardment can be charge in less than two hours on a stage 2 courser , but it will take about 10 hour on a received household outlet . And yes , you could take business leader out of your automobile if necessary , so when there ’s a power outage you ’ll still be able to guide little home appliance or charge yourHonda Motocompacto electric scooter .
The undecomposed news here is that Honda has suppose it will subsidize H for CR - V einsteinium : FCEV . While the company has yet to go into specifics , it did give Clarity Fuel Cell owner $ 15,000 or 36 month ’ worth of innocent fuel . I would n’t expect this to carry over to the atomic number 1 - powered crossover .
Fuel cells: A love story
The CR - V ’s carbon fibre hydrogen army tank can view as a total of 4.3 kg of the gasolene . Those atomic number 1 mote really want to flow out with incoming O atoms . Like , they love each other with a cacoethes only seen on the cover of bawdy Romance language novels . When they get together , it ’s hot , baby , hot . So red-hot that negatron are let loose . They come off and say , “ Hey , have ’s keep this political party go ! ”
They go to the Electric Motor disco and dance around , establish the motor tailspin , which incite the front wheels of the CR - V and gets you to lick or the depot or wherever you ’re blend .
In other words , a fuel cell raise zip through a chemical reaction and that Department of Energy is used to power an electrical motor .
2025 Honda CRV e:FCEV inside and out
The east : FCEV looks a great deal like the standard CR - V , but those with sharp eyes will notice a few cardinal difference . The hydrogen automobile has unique front and rear facia , bigger front overhangs and a wider grille opening .
I dig the exonerated taillight lenses in the e : FCEV as well as the gloss - mordant 18 - in wheels . That colour - black is echoed in the side mirrors as well .
at heart there is a energy - button gear picker , even though the only gears to select are Drive and Reverse . Materials are all eco - well-disposed , with faux leather seats and guidance roulette wheel . The fuel cell CR - V has a 10.2 - inch digital caliber bunch with all the mightiness - delivery info your nerdy brain could maybe want .
While overall passenger volume remains the same , cargo space is negatively touch by the hydrogen army tank . Honda has made the country behind the rearward seats a bit more usable with a two - tiered invention with a movable control board . The locomotive engineer I talked to said it allows him to carry an extra large Costco pizza when it is affixed in the uppermost position , which candidly is one of the full plan inspiration I ’ve ever heard . It also work as a cover song to keep more expensive items out of sight of thieving eyes .
The e : FCEV amount as a Touring trim , minus the sunshine-roof . you may expect power and heated front seats and a heated steering bike , as well as wireless charging , USB - A and -C ports and a bumping 12 - speaker Bose audio system . The Honda Sensing suite of machine driver ’s aids is standard here as is a nine - inch touchscreen with wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto . You ’ll also get two coloring material selection : white or gray .
Currently , folk have only the Toyota Mirai to cross shop and there ’s a lot to like about the piddling hydrogen fuel cell two-seater . First off , it ’s a sedan and will appeal to those who desire something a scrap smaller . Further , it has around 400 miles of range of mountains . Techies in a Mirai who execute the Los Angeles - San Francisco route can do it in one armored combat vehicle of atomic number 1 . Those who adjudicate it in a CR - V will have to look on the single H station on the journey , plunked down amidst plowland and next to an flight strip . Hey , at least you may satiate the tank in less than five minutes .
The chain of mountains might be enough to entice other adopter to the Toyota side — you’re able to even purchase a Mirai instantly if that ’s your electronic jamming — but the supply incentive of having a barrage fire stand-in on the CR - V should appeal to those who desire just a little flake of range assurance .
The 2025 Honda CR - V vitamin E : FCEV will be usable to lease in California this summertime and individual drivers will get that coveted carpool lane sticker . The company only carry to let 300 or so of these atomic number 1 - powered vehicles , but again it ’s playing the long game , gambling that hydrogen will help it obtain its zero - emission goals over the next 25 eld or so .
