Honda Introduces First 'Fuel Cell Family'

Somehow I missed this yesterday, but Honda held a big news conference to announce that it had leased its first hydrogen-powered car to a California family (here's the official release).

Jon and Sandy Spallino of Redondo Beach, shown in the picture above, signed a two-year lease on the experimental Honda FCX, which uses an emissions-free, hydrogen-powered fuel cell.

They're paying $500 a month to drive the car and report their experiences to Honda engineers. That's a bargain, because the car probably cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, if not more.

The biggest obstacle to hydrogen fuel cells -- apart from the enormous cost -- is the lack of a fuel infrastructure. It's the classic chicken-egg dilemma.

But California is moving forward with a multi-year initiative to build hydrogen refueling stations across the state, which is good because otherwise the Spallinos wouldn't be able to go far.

I've done a lot of writing about hybrids (Toyota used to be a client) and hydrogen fuel cells, and I believe they are both important components of our transportation future.

So I'm surprised Honda's announcement didn't get more play ... a Google News search shows only 78 stories.

Thanks to Ad Pulp for the link.

Technorati Tags: PR, Public Relations, Honda, Fuel Cells