Honda CR-V e:FCEV: hydrogen refueling, electric driving

Cars with a fuel cell are quite scarce. Toyota has the Mirai, Hyundai the Nexo. Honda will soon have another hydrogen car on the menu: this CR-V e:FCEV. To start with the bad news: for the time being, the Honda CR-V e:FCEV is only available in the United States and in its home country Japan.

The Honda CR-V e:FCEV has a 92.2 kW fuel cell on board, but also a fairly large battery pack with a capacity of 17.7 kWh for a hydrogen car. For comparison: the battery in the Toyota Mirai requires only 1.2 kWh. Why does the CR-V e:FCEV have such a large electrical lung capacity? Well: you can not only fill the SUV with hydrogen for power, but you can also hang it on the charger. That actually makes it a plug-in hybrid with fuel cell. Without hydrogen in the hydrogen tanks, you can still drive approximately 50 kilometers electrically, according to Honda. If you fill the hydrogen tank with the maximum 4.3 kilos of hydrogen, the range increases to 435 kilometers. The electric motor that drives the wheels is 237 hp and 332 Nm strong.

Honda did not develop the CR-V e:FCEV all by itself. The latest generation of the Honda Fuel Cell Module was created in collaboration with General Motors. Wait a minute, new generation? Certainly. Honda is certainly no stranger to hydrogen cars. Honda released its first fuel cell study model as early as 1998, and several more would follow. In 2002, Honda introduced a small series of hydrogen cars with the FCX and in 2007 the brand introduced the ‘Prius-shaped’ FCX Clarity. This was followed up in 2016 in the Honda Clarity, which was available as a plug-in hybrid, as an EV and as an FCV with fuel cell. Unfortunately not in the Netherlands, just like the CR-V e:FCEV.