June 24, 2005
Honda Motor Co. is following Toyota in efforts to produce an affordable hydrogen-powered fuel-cell car.
Honda engineers say a fuel-cell car costs almost 100 times as much as a conventional automobile. Honda plans to cut that cost to the level of high-end cars and eventually to make fuel-cell cars it more competitive against conventional alternatives. Honda expects that fuel cell cars could have a market share of 5 percent by 2020.
Toyota predicts that the introduction of the environmentally friendly cars to the mass market is likely by 2010 but the costs will need to be reduced and fuel cell storage technology improved to allow long travel.
Toyota aims to cut the cost of fuel-cell cars to $50,000 from more than $1 million by 2015. General Motors aims to have a production-ready hydrogen vehicle by 2010 with a fuel cell that costs $5,000.
