For years, hydrogen fuel-cell technology has been viewed as the ideal replacement for the gasoline combustion engine in automobiles. While most industry observers agree some form of hydrogen power (fuel-cell or combustion) will eventually replace gasoline, that timetable has been less than clear. Several hurdles remain, including making the technology affordable, and more importantly having an infrastructure to support it.

Honda expects to sell fuel-cell vehicles in the general market by 2018, according to Kyodo News. While Honda is planning limited marketing of it FCX Concept fuel-cell car in 2008, the automaker acknowledges that there are technological challenges that need to be resolved before fuel-cell cars become common.

“In 2018, I believe the development (of a fuel-cell car) will have been very advanced,” Honda President Takeo Fukui told the news agency. “It will become a real possibility to a large degree,” he said. Fukui said Honda is confident it could sell a good number of vehicles if they were priced no more than $84,000. It would have to be way less than that.

Hydrogen fuel-cell technology is commonly viewed as the ideal replacement for the gasoline combustion engine in automobiles. Most industry observers agree that hydrogen power will eventually replace gasoline, but the technological challenges most be resolved.

Nissan has said it plans to launch a fuel-cell vehicle in Japan and North America in the early 2010s.

## Source: The Detroit News ##

Posted in: Honda, Technology, Alternative Fuel, Future Vehicles
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