Honda announced late last year it would be producing a CR-V hydrogen fuel cell vehicle, but details were thin. Today, Honda provides a couple extra bits of information about the upcoming crossover set to be built at the Marysville, Ohio, Performance Manufacturing Center (PMC).
For starters, Honda previously said the CR-V FCEV (not an official name) would uniquely feature a lithium-ion battery pack that could be plugged in and charged. The car would then run on pure electricity for a certain number of miles before its battery pack is depleted. Now, Honda says this fuel cell vehicle’s battery pack will have a power export function that will allow you to provide power to external items. Honda wouldn’t provide details on how much power it would be capable of, but it looks like Honda will be engineering a system that provides a similar function as Ford’s Pro Power Onboard.
Additionally, Honda explained why exactly it decided to offer a hybrid of technologies that include both pure electric power via the battery pack and power via hydrogen. Turns out, Honda’s market research shows Honda Clarity owners have been experiencing infrastructure issues with hydrogen refueling stations being down. Being able to plug in and run the vehicle purely off electricity could be helpful in these situations. Plus, Honda found that its hydrogen vehicle buyers tend to have garages they can plug in to overnight, allowing them to recoup a nominal amount of driving range at home.
The last bit we can put together about this vehicle is that its new generation fuel cell stack was developed with GM. Honda and GM made this partnership announcement last week, and we can confirm that the CR-V FCEV going on sale in 2024 will be shipping with this co-developed system. It’s reportedly cheaper, features greater durability and performs much better at low temperatures than the system in the Honda Clarity.
Honda isn’t saying exactly how many of these FCEV CR-Vs it will produce at the PMC, but expect it to be low production volumes and limited to sales in California, the only state where owning a hydrogen vehicle is viable today due to the lack of refueling infrastructure.
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