Honda Looks Beyond Hybrid

Honda hopes to out-do the competition and thier bybrid cars by investing a huge amount of time, money and brainpower in a hydrogen-powered car. It is so committed to hydrogen, to fuel on-board "cell" packs for electric cars, that it is even developing a home energy station.

Honda believes motorists will eventually fill their cars at home with hydrogen produced from a small solar-powered station. The company has just unveiled the prototype of the home energy station at its research and development base at Honda America in California. It will be used to refuel Honda FCX hydrogen fuel-cell cars.

The system uses solar power to extract hydrogen from natural gas. It also has a refiner to purify the gas and a high-pressure storage tank.

Honda says the system is only a prototype and that it will take at least 15 years for fuel-cell cars to make it into mass production.