Honda Clarity

FIRST DRIVE Fuel Cell model is a technological marvel pointing to an intriguing future.

- John McIlroy

THE Honda Clarity is a fuel cell vehicle designed to get around one of the most persistent problems with electric cars: recharging. Plenty of EV owners top up their batteries at home, but when out and about, things become more of a lottery.

Fuel cell technology offers a solution – albeit one with compromises. You fuel the Clarity from a hydrogen pump, in much the same way as you would a regular car, and it takes roughly the same amount of time to do so. Then, the car’s fuel cell stack turns the hydrogen into electricity to power the motors. It emits nothing but water.

Honda claims the Clarity has the greatest range of any zero-emissions vehicle (403 miles), but with only a dozen hydrogen refuelling stations in the UK, you’d still need to go out of your way to fill the tank.

This is not the first Honda fuel cell vehicle; its predecessor, the FCX Clarity, was leased to selected customers back in the early 2000s. The same applies to the new Clarity, although just three selected UK customers will get their hands on one this year in return for filling a few in-depth surveys for Honda engineers. By next year, there will be six cars on British roads.