Jamie Lee Curtis has a new Honda: Another fuel-cell star is born

This post comes to you from the letter H and the word "hydrogen." "Halloween" star Jamie Lee Curtis has just taken delivery of her new Honda. It’s an FCX Clarity fuel-cell vehicle, which she will be leasing for three years. JLC is happy. "I really wasn't expecting it to be so luxurious," she says. "It is user-friendly and very modern."

The FCX, whose only emissions are heat and H2O, should be a regular sight in Santa Monica, because at least one other has gone to a well-heeled beach denizen. Plus, with a range of 280 miles and hydrogen filling stations few and far between (there are currently just a handful in Southern California, and most of those are open at limited times only — demand is rather low at the moment), they won't be undertaking extended road trips anytime soon.

However, plans are in place for all that to change. Hoping to break this chicken-or-egg deadlock, the California Fuel Cell Partnership (CaFCP, a collaboration of carmakers, energy providers, tech companies and government agencies) has just released its vision for a hydrogen-fueled future. The full document can be seen on CaFCP’s website. Here are the highlights. It goes into the numbers of how many fuel-cell vehicles will be humming along the Golden State's highways from 2010 to 2025 and how much hydrogen they will need. Even fuel-cell buses are part of CaFCP's grand scheme.

"It can be difficult to see how we move from today's 200 FCVs and 25 limited-access stations to a commercial market," says executive director Catherine Dunwoody. "This document provides a clear vision of how that transition can occur."

The idea is to set up an infrastructure of stations. CaFCP realizes this would be a loss-making venture in its initial stages and proposes government funding, although Dunwoody contends: "Moving toward a hydrogen future has clear benefits for the environment and the economy. To achieve commercialization, California needs to establish a network of early hydrogen fuel stations focused in key early markets. Although the benefits may not be fully realized for years to come, it is time to take the next step."

The other big question is: Because JLC’s husband is Christopher ("Spinal Tap") Guest, does the FCX's stereo go all the way to 11?

— Colin Ryan

Photos: Honda

Comments

[Colin]

How many emissions are generated through the creation and cold storage of the hydrogen if this was done on an efficient wide-scale v. equivalent for gasoline?

Not being negative, just want to know and think the article was misleading in implying this form of transport is zero emission, the car is but the fuel source definitely isn't.

Probably another Hollywood star mistakenly caught up in not understanding total emissions like those driving hybrids but trying to get themselves favourable publicity.

[fzdybel]

We have seen the future and it is good. ZEVs to the rescue. What an elegant piece of engineering this car appears to be. There is however a case to be made for an all-electric vehicle with replaceable rechargeable batteries. If would be even more efficient "well to wheel" than this car, and - with ubiquitous replacement batteries - just as capable of long journeys. But we are still waiting on the battery technology. Looks like plug-in vs. fuel cell is going to turn into one of those "HDVD vs. BlueRay" kinds of things.

Either way, to make any of this count we're going to need a lot more clean electricity from renewable and nuclear sources.

[Wayne Gerdes]

Hi Jamie:

Congratulations on receiving the keys to your new Honda Clarity FCV!

If you can somehow or in someway let the rest of us know of your experiences over the next year, please post it somewhere. Anywhere will do :-) There are tens of decent automobile blog sites including this article to write a quick note or two every few weeks. I am not sure what your confidentiality agreement with Honda entails but if it is open ended, there are thousands of us that would love to know how it feels to drive one of the most advanced vehicles on the face of the planet over the longer term…

Congratulations again and Good Luck

Wayne Gerdes – Wadsworth, IL.

[ESB]

The back end shown in the photo is a really ugly design. How can you see out the back window?

[colin west (from london)]

I realise you have editorial control but I don't know why you suppressed my point about the other emissions involved in the production and cooling of hydrogen which I understood to be considerable.

Colin Ryan's article is, I believe, misleading in not making any reference to that. I think you should have some environmental expertise applied in your journalism in this specific area, don't just leave it to a motoring journalist.

I am not against hydrogen at all, the sooner we can become far less dependent on oil the better but I wanted to get the whole story which I think should be important for readers of your influential newspaper.

[muD]

So how are they going to make all of this hydrogen? Even if the new catalyst for oxygen electrolysis from MIT pans out as economically (and environmentally) feasible, they still need a non-platinum based hydrogen catalyst. Are you going to extract the hydrogen from coal? Or build nuclear plants to power massive electrolysis plants? Until then, hydrogen is the fuel of the future and always will be.

[JGNY]

Why did she not buy an american car ?

[tonyE]

Dang it... SHE has my Clarity. I live in Irvine. commute to Torrance/Seal Beach.... we got a Civic Hybrid already....

It's must be good to the King ( or at least a famous celebrity)

[Ty]

Nice car! Jamie Lee looks Great!

[Karl in Burbank]

I think Burbank's Hydrogen filling station cost $3.1 million....I am sure Jaimie will be helping pay back the taxpayers monies with each fillup.

http://www.ci.burbank.ca.us/agendas/ag_council/2005/sr031505_8.html

[Yogi]

My understanding, and I could be wrong, is this is an electric car whose electricity is created by hydrogen atoms being released in one chamber, oxygen in another chamber and the two atoms want to get together so they go through a membrane which produces electricity that is stored in batteries. Once the atoms are together they are H20 and go out the tailpipe and the car runs off of those batteries.

If we could easily, and we can't, separate H from O in H20 this would be a perpetual motion machine while combining and separating. I have also read that currently the easiest way to get hydrogen is from natural gas, but hopefully this can be overcome.

I was behind an early version of Honda's Hydrogen cars, which was very awkward looking, and I could see a small drizzle of water coming out the tailpipe. It pulled away from a stop very strongly, and that was probably 5 years ago.

Best of luck to Honda and JLC and her sensational rack.

[JamesR]

Congratulation to Jamie Lee Curtis! Unfortunately mere mortals like me probably don't have much chance of qualifying for one these leases. Despite signing up at least twice over the past six months on the FCX Clarity web site, and living in one of the target areas in Southern California, I never got so much as single email back from Honda, despite promises that "we will be in touch soon". Being totally ignored like that made me feel a bit let down to be honest! Makes one wonder how much of this is really just a grand Honda marketing scheme using high profile celebrities to tout Honda's advanced technology.

[ERaz]

RE: colin west (from london) : So how are they going to make all of this hydrogen?....

If we want it enough and the demand is high, don't you think there will be a high level of focus and research put into it? I think as a science based technological society we can over come that hurdle with enough work and effort. Plus all the $ that will be made SOMEBODY will figure it out.... What about a solar powder based system?

[luigi]

Rock on Jamie,
I agree with Wayne above, let us know Jamie your experience driving such a marvel.
As to the cost and expanse of producing hydrogen today, initial inefficiency is true of all forms of energy produced by humans. In time, technology will give us a more favorable green ratio. Kudos to Honda and I hope my beloved GM steps up to the plate soon.
-Ralph Nader is the Man

Luigi

[B J Deller]

Re comment above. "Until then, hydrogen is the fuel of the future and always will be." The answer? I've seen the future and it is here.

There will be about 10 to 15 years transition period or even less, but with nuclear power stations, hydrogen is very feasible. No need to go to war over places like Iraq. Let them kill themselves as they seem to want to; why get involved?

[Ray Fisher]

Hopefully, we will soon have an hydrogen infrastructure in place utilizing the natural gas pipelines as planned by the DOE to make hydrogen mainstream to clean our air, restore our auto industry and revitalize our economy. Progress is slow yet still progress!!!

[mark]

Congratulations on your new Honda. ZOOM!! ZOOM!!!! HOT JUST LIKE YOU!!!

Love Ya!

Mark

[Kyle, Dana Point]

What really blows my mind is the single mindedness of car companies today. They seem to have an inability to grasp the concept that there is no single replacement for the old guard of fossil fuel combustible engines. Why fuel cells tech (which actually creates more pollution in its creation then a regular combustion engine creates in its burning), hybrid tech, bio-diesel ( techhttp://www.technologyreview.com/Energy/18138/?a=f), and plug in electric tech are not being utilized in tandem blows my mind. We need to move from the "replace petro fuels" mentality to the "engineer to achieve maximum efficiency" mentality