Cold Weather Fuel Cell Vehicle Breakthrough

March 2, 2004 [SolarAccess.com] Honda Motor Co. said they have made a significant breakthrough for fuel cell technology by conducting a successful cold-weather demonstration of its FCX fuel cell vehicle equipped with a Honda Fuel Cell Stack. Demonstrating the vehicle’s cold-weather performance capabilities and its ability to start in below freezing temperatures, a major hurdle in the drive to create a truly mass-marketable fuel cell vehicle. As a part of the test, the FCX successfully started after being parked outside overnight in temperatures as low as -11 degrees C (+12 degrees F). Test drives conducted immediately afterward demonstrated the vehicle’s excellent cold weather driving performance, the company said. The Honda FCX is the first fuel cell vehicle to be certified for regular commercial use by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the California Air Resources Board, and is currently being used by customers in the U.S. and Japan.