Production Begins for the New Honda FCX Clarity Fuel Cell Vehicle

Zero emission, hydrogen fuel cell cars roll off line for first time

Ron Yerxa receives symbolic key for FCX Clarity
at line off ceremony from Takeo Fukui, Honda's President

On Monday, 16 June 2008, the FCX Clarity - Honda's advanced hydrogen fuel cell powered vehicle - came off the line at the world's first dedicated fuel cell vehicle manufacturing facility in Japan. After 19 years of development, the arrival of this ‘real world' fuel cell car marks the beginning of a new era of cleaner motoring.

The FCX Clarity - which emits only water from its exhaust pipe - was presented at a line-off ceremony at the Honda Automobile New Model Centre in Tochigi Prefecture, where Honda also showcased a number of the new production processes. Among the early adopters are the actress Jamie Lee Curtis and her filmmaker husband Christopher Guest, and film producer Ron Yerxa.

A new dedicated fuel cell vehicle assembly line has been established at the Honda Automobile New Model Center, which includes processes unique to a fuel cell vehicle such as the installation of the fuel cell stack and hydrogen tank. Honda Engineering Co., Ltd produces all fuel cell stacks itself, also in Tochigi. In manufacturing fuel cells, exclusively-designed automated equipment was introduced to ensure quality of the highest precision while enabling mass production of cells, with several hundred cells required for each fuel cell stack.