We mentioned this on AutoblogGreen over the holidays, but I came across another aspect of the claim by Honda President Takeo Fukui's statement that he expects hydrogen fuel cell vehicles to be widely available in 2018 that bears thinking about. As Sam mentioned in his original post, Fukui believes that within a decade after the FCX is released, fuel cell cars will be available if the cost of these cars comes down to about a tenth of what they are now.
The problem is that all of these hydrogen fuel cell prototypes cost about a million bucks. One-tenth of that is $100,000. Sure, there is a market for one-hundred-grand green vehicles (see example A, the Tesla Roadster), but how many FCXs (or whatever the initial production model will be called) does Honda expect to sell at that price? Fukui told the Kyodo news agency that he's confident customers will buy these cars if they cost no more than 10 million yen ($84,000). Really? I can see a hydrogen car in the mid-fifties doing all right, but if Honda thinks they can do well with an $84,000 hydrogen car in 2018, well after when Tesla says they'll have their $30,000 EV sedan on the road, I think Fukui is in for a big let down.
Readers, your thoughts?
[Source: AP in the Suburban Chicago News]
The problem is that all of these hydrogen fuel cell prototypes cost about a million bucks. One-tenth of that is $100,000. Sure, there is a market for one-hundred-grand green vehicles (see example A, the Tesla Roadster), but how many FCXs (or whatever the initial production model will be called) does Honda expect to sell at that price? Fukui told the Kyodo news agency that he's confident customers will buy these cars if they cost no more than 10 million yen ($84,000). Really? I can see a hydrogen car in the mid-fifties doing all right, but if Honda thinks they can do well with an $84,000 hydrogen car in 2018, well after when Tesla says they'll have their $30,000 EV sedan on the road, I think Fukui is in for a big let down.
Readers, your thoughts?
[Source: AP in the Suburban Chicago News]
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