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There’s a lot riding on Honda’s next-generation CR-V mid-size SUV, but according to new reports, it could be one of the first mainstream mid-size SUVs to score a hydrogen drivetrain.
Hydrogen is the often talked about but rarely seen future alternative to diesel fuel. While battery-electrics seem to be able to replace petrol models, the advantages of hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles are less weight, short refuelling times, and significantly longer driving range.
Honda has issued a statement saying it will join forces with General Motors on the development of a new fuel-cell, which it claims will more than double the durability of its outgoing fuel-cells (which were once used to power the now-discontinued Honda Clarity) as well as cut costs by one third.
This new fuel-cell, Honda confirms, will be delivered on a car “based on” the new-generation CR-V by 2024. The catch? Honda’s statement says the fuel-cell CR-V will launch only in North America and Japan, and that it only plans to build around 2000 units globally per year.
Interestingly, Honda also says the CR-V-based SUV will not only feature a fuel-cell electric system, but it will also have a battery pack large enough to justify a plug-in system, making it a hydrogen plug-in hybrid.
Hydrogen hybrid plug-ins have existed before, but not on a mainstream model. Mercedes-Benz has built a similar model before, the GLC F-Cell, although it was only a prototype. The only two hydrogen fuel-cell passenger vehicles on the market currently, the Hyundai Nexo SUV and Toyota Mirai sedan, do not have plug-in capability.
Honda also has big plans to expand its hydrogen fuel-cell business into the commercial vehicle segment, an area where the technology, like diesel, is best suited. To that end, Honda plans to debut a FCEV powertrain in an Isuzu-branded commercial vehicle by 2024, and says it is currently testing fuel-cell powertrains with its commercial vehicle partner in China, Dongfeng.
Honda says with input from GM, Isuzu, and Dongfeng, it expects to be able to sell 60,000 fuel-cell electric powertrains by 2030 globally, and a few hundred thousand units in the following decade.
Hydrogen fuel-cells generate power by reacting compressed hydrogen with outside air. The by-product of this reaction is only water. FCEVs need a significant amount of infrastructure to support a refuelling bowser, which requires on-site compression and refrigeration, however the hydrogen fuel itself can be renewably generated from an electrolyser and transported long distances, creating an energy dense and portable renewable energy source. It is worth noting that currently most hydrogen fuel is not truly emissions-free and is sourced as a by-product of methane production.
Hydrogen fuel itself is extremely light, making drivetrain systems equivalent to the weight of current diesel vehicles, whilst also easily allowing driving ranges of more than 1000km - suitable for longer intercity driving distances in places like Australia, North America, and China.
Honda intends to phase out all combustion engines by 2040, selling only battery-electric and hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles at that point. Honda says while the next-generation fuel-cell launching in the CR-V-based SUV will be much improved, it expects a third-generation unit to arrive by 2030 will halve the cost and double the durability again.
The new hydrogen fuel cell will be built at a Honda-GM joint-venture in Michigan, while the FCEV CR-V is said to be built in the same factory as the NSX in Ohio.
In an interesting twist, this next-generation fuel-cell could also be the future of Isuzu D-Max and MU-X powertrains, as Isuzu pointed to the Honda FCEV partnership when asked by CarsGuide about electrification of the new-generation D-Max in 2021.
Honda has not revealed the release date of the new-generation CR-V for the Australian market yet, but it is expected to arrive before the end of 2023. The next launch for the brand will be the smaller ZR-V, which size-wise slots between the smaller HR-V and CR-V mid-sizer.
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