Honda this week supplied a couple of extra particulars about its next-generation fuel-cell module, on the 2023 European Hydrogen Week in Brussels.

Co-developed with Common Motors, the brand new module was first proven on the 2023 Tokyo auto present, and it has already been confirmed to be used in North America. Honda has already confirmed a Europe-bound vitality storage system that mixes renewable vitality with hydrogen. However that is the primary time Honda has mentioned different purposes for Europe, together with passenger vehicles, industrial automobiles, building gear, and stationary energy era.

Honda next-generation hydrogen fuel-cell module – 2023 Tokyo auto present

Enhancements over earlier fuel-cell methods embody compact dimensions, in addition to fast startup instances—even in low temperatures, Ingo Nyhues, deputy normal supervisor, Europe enterprise planning and improvement, Honda Motor Europe, stated in a press release.

This technique will make its debut for North America in a model of the Honda CR-V—set to be Ohio-built beginning in 2024. The hydrogen CR-V follows the Readability Gasoline Cell, which was launched with the last-generation fuel-cell stack from Honda, in 2017.

2023 Honda CR-V Hybrid

The following-generation system can also be because of be deployed in a fuel-cell semi—in a challenge with Isuzu. The 2 corporations plan to start out demonstration runs of a prototype fuel-cell truck on public roads by the tip of March, with a manufacturing mannequin following in 2027.

Honda companion GM has additionally emphasised plans to put gasoline cells into semis, collaborating with truck producer Navistar to construct a fleet of two,000 hydrogen semis. However not like Honda, GM has distanced itself from the thought of utilizing gasoline cell tech in passenger vehicles—one thing the U.S. automaker had labored on for many years.

Honda next-generation hydrogen fuel-cell module

Honda can also be concerned in a challenge exploring the chances for hydrogen inner combustion—for bikes particularly. This merely burns hydrogen in a combustion engine as an alternative of fossil fuels, whereas gasoline cells use hydrogen to generate electrical energy that powers electrical motors.

Whether or not it is gasoline cells or hydrogen combustion, restricted availability of hydrogen will seemingly stay an impediment. In keeping with the Division of Vitality (DOE), there are simply 59 U.S. hydrogen stations at current—with all however a type of publicly accessible. That follows a decades-long sample of deployment lagging the trade’s guarantees. Primarily based on trade commitments, the California Air Sources Board (CARB) in 2021 projected 100 retail hydrogen stations in operation by the tip of 2023.