Honda’s new zero-emission, hydrogen fuel cell car on a roll

Japan’s No 3 automaker expects to lease out a “few dozen” units this year and about 200 units within three years.

In California, a three-year lease will run USD 600 a month, which includes maintenance and collision coverage.

Among the first customers are actress Jamie Lee Curtis and filmmaker husband Christopher Guest, actress Laura Harris, film producer Ron Yerxa, as well as businessmen Jon Spallino and Jim Salomon.

“It’s so smooth,” said Harris, who payed villainess Marie Warner on the hit TV show “24.” “It’s like a future machine, but it’s not.”

Harris, Spallino and Yerxa were flown over to the ceremony, courtesy of Honda. Yerxa says he’s excited to showoff the garnet-coloured, four-door sedan and believe there’s “a lot of interest in the car.”

The FCX Clarity is an improvement of its previous-generation fuel cell vehicle, the FCX, introduced in 2005.

A breakthrough in the design of the fuel cell stack, which is the unit that powers the car’s motor, allowed engineers to lighten the body, expand the interior and increase efficiency, Honda said.