siegen

Where did he go? I don't want to have to start defending Toyota, cause right now it's all one sided and not fun anymore.

Honda Debuts All-New FCX Clarity Advanced Fuel Cell Vehicle Press Release Photo Gallery (at LeftLaneNews) 11/14/2007 - LOS ANGELES, - Honda today unveiled the FCX Clarity fuel cell vehicle at the Los Angeles Auto Show, announcing plans to begin limited retail marketing of the vehicle in summer 2008. The FCX Clarity is a next-generation, zero-emissions, hydrogen-powered fuel cell vehicle based on the entirely-new Honda V Flow fuel cell platform, and powered by the highly compact, efficient and powerful Honda V Flow fuel cell stack. Featuring tremendous improvements to driving range, power, weight and efficiency - and boasting a low-slung, dynamic and sophisticated appearance, previously unachievable in a fuel cell vehicle - the FCX Clarity marks the significant progress Honda continues to make in advancing the real-world performance and appeal of the hydrogen-powered fuel cell car. "The FCX Clarity is a shining symbol of the progress we've made with fuel cell vehicles and of our belief in the promise of this technology," said Tetsuo Iwamura, American Honda president and CEO. "Step by step, with continuous effort, commitment and focus, we are working to overcome obstacles to the mass-market potential of zero-emissions hydrogen fuel cell automobiles." American Honda plans to lease the FCX Clarity to a limited number of retail consumers in Southern California with the first deliveries taking place in summer 2008. Full details of the lease program will be set closer to launch, but current plans call for a three-year lease term with a price of $600 per month, including maintenance and collision insurance. American Honda is also developing a service infrastructure that provides customers with the best balance of convenience and the highest quality of service. When the FCX Clarity requires periodic maintenance, customers will simply schedule a visit with their local Honda dealer. American Honda will transport the vehicle to their fuel cell service facility, located in the greater Los Angeles area, where all required work will be performed. At the completion of the work, the customer will pick up their car from the dealer. How It Works The FCX Clarity utilizes Honda's V Flow stack in combination with a new compact and efficient lithium ion battery pack and a single hydrogen storage tank to power the vehicle's electric drive motor. The fuel cell stack operates as the vehicle's main power source. Hydrogen combines with atmospheric oxygen in the fuel cell stack, where chemical energy from the reaction is converted into electric power used to propel the vehicle. Additional energy captured through regenerative braking and deceleration is stored in the lithium ion battery pack, and used to supplement power from the fuel cell, when needed. The vehicle's only emission is water. Honda V Flow Fuel Cell Platform The FCX Clarity's revolutionary new V Flow platform packages the ultra-compact, lightweight and powerful Honda V Flow fuel cell stack (65 percent smaller than the previous Honda FC stack) in the vehicle's center tunnel, between the two front seats. Taking advantage of a completely new cell configuration, the vertically-oriented stack achieves an output of 100 kilowatts (kW) (versus 86kW in the current Honda FC stack) with a 50 percent increase in output density by volume (67 percent by mass). Its compact size allows for a more spacious interior and more efficient packaging of other powertrain components, which would otherwise be unattainable in a sleek, low-slung sedan. The FCX Clarity boasts numerous other significant advances in the performance and packaging of Honda fuel cell technology, compared to the current-generation FCX. These include1: * a 20-percent increase in fuel economy - to the approximate equivalent of 68 mpg2 combined fuel economy (about 2-3 times the fuel economy of a gasoline-powered car, and 1.5 times that of a gasoline-electric hybrid vehicle, of comparable size and performance); * a 30-percent increase in vehicle range - to 270 miles; * a 25-percent improvement in power-to-weight ratio, in part from an approximate 400-pound reduction in the fuel cell powertrain weight, for superior performance and efficiency despite a substantial increase in overall vehicle size; * a 45-percent reduction in the size of the fuel cell powertrain - nearly equivalent, in terms of volume, to a modern gas-electric hybrid powertrain; * an advanced new lithium-ion battery pack that is 40 percent lighter and 50 percent smaller than the current-generation FCX's ultra-capacitor; and * a single 5,000-psi hydrogen storage tank with 10 percent additional hydrogen capacity than the previous model. FCX Clarity Design More than just a fuel cell vehicle - the FCX Clarity speaks to Honda's vision of the future of automobile design and performance freed from the constraints of conventional powertrain technologies. The FCX Clarity's four-door sedan platform features a short-nose body and spacious cabin with comfortable accommodations for four people and their luggage. Major powertrain components - including the electric motor, fuel cell stack, battery pack and hydrogen tank - have been made more compact and are distributed throughout the vehicle to further optimize space, comfort and total vehicle performance. Advanced Materials and Components In keeping with its theme as an environmentally-advanced automobile, the FCX Clarity features seat upholstery and door linings made from Honda Bio-Fabric - a newly-developed, plant-based material that offers CO2 reductions as an alternative to traditional interior materials, along with outstanding durability and resistance to wear, stretching, and damage from sunlight. Designed to appeal to forward-thinking customers seeking the ultimate in zero-emissions, alternative-fuel vehicle performance, the FCX Clarity is also equipped with a full compliment of advanced safety, comfort and convenience features, including a state-of-the-art navigation system with hydrogen station locations, backup camera, premium audio, climate-controlled seats and Bluetooth™ connectivity. Other improvements, such as shift-by-wire, electric power steering (EPS), and a newly-designed instrument panel with an easy-to-read hydrogen fuel-consumption display, further improve its customer appeal and ease of operation. CO2 Emissions The FCX Clarity's only emission is water. Carbon Dioxide (CO2) emissions come only from the production of hydrogen, which varies by source; however, well-to-wheel CO2 emissions using hydrogen reformed from natural gas - the most widely used method of production today - are less than half that of a conventional gasoline vehicle. With the production of hydrogen from water by electrolysis, CO2 emissions can be further reduced and ultimately approach zero if the electricity used for electrolysis is generated using solar, wind, water or nuclear power. Honda has developed its own solar cells, with half of the CO2 emissions in the production stage compared to conventional crystalline silicon cells; and has begun mass-production and retail sales of this technology in Japan for both commercial and residential use. Fuel Cell Leadership Based on its vision of, "Blue Skies for our Children", Honda has worked for forty years at reducing the environmental impact of the automobile, including efforts to reduce emissions, boost fuel efficiency and, now, many industry-leading efforts to advance the hydrogen fuel cell vehicle - a technology and fuel that Honda believes may hold the ultimate promise for a clean and sustainable transportation future. Honda's pioneering achievements in this area include the first EPA and CARB certification of a fuel cell vehicle (2002); the first lease of a fuel cell vehicle (2002); the first fuel cell vehicle to receive an EPA fuel economy rating (2002); the first cold-weather customer (2004); the first and still only individual retail customers (2005, 2007); and the first and still only fuel cell vehicle to be eligible for a federal tax credit. About Honda Honda is America's most fuel-efficient car company and a leader in the development of leading-edge technologies to improve fuel efficiency and reduce CO2 emissions, including advanced gasoline engines, gasoline-electric hybrids, natural gas-powered engines, and hydrogen fuel cells. Founded in Japan in 1948, Honda began operations in the U.S. in 1959 with the establishment of American Honda Motor Co., Inc., Honda's first overseas subsidiary. Honda began U.S. production3 of motorcycles in 1979 and automobiles in 1982. The company has invested more than $9 billion in its North American operations with 14 major manufacturing facilities, employment of more than 35,000 associates, and annual purchases of more than $17.6 billion in parts and materials from suppliers in North America. A consumer Web site for the FCX is available at fcx.honda.com. Media information, high-resolution images and video of the FCX Clarity (and other Honda vehicles) is available at www.hondanews.com. More information about Honda's environmental initiatives and products can be found in the company's annual North American Environmental Report which can be downloaded at www.honda.com. 1 Specifications may change prior to the certification and sales of production units. 2 Honda in-house calculation 3 Using domestic and globally sourced parts Honda Introduces Experimental Home Energy Station IV Press Release Photo Gallery 11/14/2007 - TORRANCE, Calif., - Honda today announced that it has begun using the Home Energy Station IV at its Honda R&D Americas, Inc. facility in Torrance, California. This fourth-generation experimental unit is designed to provide fuel for a hydrogen-powered fuel cell vehicle, as well as heat and electricity for a home. The new system is more compact and efficient, with a lower operating cost than previous models. The announcement coincides with the world debut of the all-new FCX Clarity hydrogen-powered fuel cell vehicle at the Los Angeles Auto Show. Honda's Home Energy Station technology is designed to facilitate the broader adoption of zero-emissions fuel cell vehicles, like the FCX Clarity, by developing a home refueling solution that makes efficient use of a home's existing natural gas supply for production of hydrogen, while providing heat and electricity to an average-size home. The Home Energy Station IV can reduce both cost and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions for the consumer. Compared to the average U.S. consumer's home with grid-supplied electricity and a gasoline-powered car, a home using Home Energy Station IV to help produce heat and electricity and also to refuel an FCX Clarity can reduce CO2 emissions by an estimated 30 percent and energy costs by an estimated 50 percent. "Honda is striving to address the need for a refueling infrastructure for hydrogen fuel cell vehicles," said Ben Knight, vice president of Honda R&D Americas. "The Home Energy Station represents one promising solution to this issue, while offering the added benefit of heating and powering the home more efficiently." Working with technology partner, Plug Power, Inc., Honda began operation of a Home Energy Station in October, 2003. Home Energy Station IV represents the latest evolution of the technology with a 70 percent reduction in size compared to the first unit, making it even more suitable for household installation. By combining gas purification and power generation components, overall size reduction and efficiency gains are achieved, while enabling it to switch from hydrogen refining to power generation when needed. For more information or downloadable high-resolution images of Home Energy Station, the Honda FCX Clarity and other Honda vehicles, please visit www.hondanews.com. Consumer information is available at www.honda.com.

By early next year Toyota will have 4 models equipped with the 5.7L V8. Pretty good for the world's greenest automaker, eh. Tundra - 14 / 18 (4wd - 13 / 17) Sequoia - 15 / 18 Land Cruiser - 13 / 18 GX - 14 / 18 (honorable mention) LX - 13 / 17 (ratings from 4.7, 5.7 to come out early next year with likely similar ratings). I don't see why any media would blast GM for their full size SUV's and Trucks, and then praise Toyota's. GM isn't the one trying to uphold a green image.

Ugh. It looks like a mish-mash of different design elements that don't go well together, specially on a vehicle this size. The only good view is from the rear.

I bet a move to ASP.NET would solve a lot of the performance issues. :AH-HA_wink: Wouldn't that be fun.

She should take up the cause for providing plenty of maps to Americans so we know where to find South Africa and the Iraq and everywhere like such as.

In black it might not look half bad :AH-HA_wink:

Got ta be dem push rods and them over-under-head valve system thingermabobs. Accord V6: 3567 to 3600 lbs Camry V6: 3461 to 3516 lbs Malibu V6: 3649 lbs (somewhere around there, no official specs on website?)

On a side note, on the way to work this morning I was driving behind a semi-truck hauling some trees (timber now I suppose it would be) and he was shooting tons of black smoke out the exhaust pipes every shift (looked like a very old model semi-truck). I snickered, this truck's probably putting out more pollution than 10-20 cars, and he's got chopped down trees in the back! Lol, I wonder what an environmental activist would do if they saw that.... probably have a stroke.

Toyota is a hypocrite for bringing a 5.7L Tundra (and 5.7L LX) to market without any attempt at new innovation to improve its fuel economy, efficiency, or usability. Then turning around and prancing about in their green tights with commercials like these. The fact that the Tundra has more horsepower and worse fuel economy than every Silverado except for the 6.0L 2wd, shows where Toyota's priorities reside. We don't need gas-mileage laws, we need emissions laws. The last thing we want to do is make it cheaper for people to drive around, cause then they'll do it more; and that's exactly what increasing car's mpg will do.

I would be just as likely to point out any errors in a "glowing" Accord review. But you won't see me do it very much on here, since everyone else takes care of that. I post regularly on TOV and give my very critical opinions occasionally. Which I commented on the other day? lol On the contrary, I think the Accord is understyled, or "mis"-styled if anything. The Malibu has some awkward parts to it too which I've commented on before. They could both be better, but the Malibu in this case is a more seamless design. The Accord could use several refinements or "tweaks" in the design, to make it flow together better. Namely the grille and head lights, and the base allow wheels.

I don't get what people are getting upset about? I thought the commercial was funny. There are stereotypes for practically every city in America, why do some people get worked up over nothing?

That's an interesting article on water availability. They need to find better ways to cool their plants, or cooler ways to produce hydrogen from water. Solar power can be used to make hydrogen, that's a completely clean way, as long as the compressor is also powered by solar.

I always liked this Impala. The new Malibu doesn't look too out of place next to these cars. I still think the Malibu would look better with only 2 grills up front instead of 3. But then it would look almost identical to the Impala. :AH-HA_wink: The bumper looks not too good in this picture. It looks like it's a slightly different tint, and the part by the headlight doesn't appear to line up well. My friends 2000 Civic is the forest green color, and the front bumper has a slight off tint to it similar to this. It's not noticeable always, only in certain angles.

In a few years hopefully the Escalade and equally wasteful vehicles will no longer be produced. Unfortunately I don't see either happening.

Maybe I stretched for some of those points. Did you read the Accord review? It's difficult to pick out really glaring points, but the overall feeling if you read both reviews is that he was looking for problems where possible with the Accord, and ignoring or skimming over any highlights. And he was extremely pleased with the Malibu, to where he did the "yeah but" thing with every problem he found.

It does look better than the Matrix, in fact it's not that bad really. The Matrix has horrible head lights.

This is the same guy that said the Accord lost its sporty edge to the "visual va va voom" of the new Camry (whatever that means). He generally doesn't like the Accord and makes many biased or ill-informed comments against it in both his review of the Accord and this review of the Malibu. For example, he says the Accord's 4cyl mileage of 21/31 is "squarely in the middle of its competitive set for fuel economy." But then in the Malibu review he says the Malibu's 4cyl mileage of 22/30 "beat the four-cylinder Chrysler Sebring, Ford Fusion, Honda Accord, Hyundai Sonata, Mazda 6 and Nissan Maxima." He doesn't even comment on how the Accord achieves that fuel economy with 190hp while everyone else does it around 170hp. He puts a negative light in his every comment on the Accord (and vice-versa with the Malibu). In the Malibu: "Interior room and comfort are excellent. At 97.7 cubic feet, the Malibu has less passenger space than the Camry or Accord, but front and rear head, leg and shoulder room were excellent." And in the Accord: "A high roofline contributes to a spacious interior, but creates a rather generic side view." (and everyone else's isn't equally as generic? at least the Accord's 3rd window has a more unique angle) and "While the interior was comfortable and accommodating, the Accord I tested had several poorly fitted parts." He then goes on to mention a rubber strip that wasn't fully seated and a "very wide" panel gap between the door and dashboard (gee, did you try closing the door all the way?). Last time I checked, both Camry and Accord offer manual transmissions. The Accord Coupe even offers a very quick 6-cylinder 6-speed manual version (sedan likely to follow) or 190hp 4-cyl with 5-speed manual. No mention of that? TOV just did a dynopack run on the non-VMC V6 and it put out equal horsepower to the hubs that it was rated to at the flywheel by Honda (268).

Lol Jiffy Lube and Mechanic are not two words that go together.

I got into a rather long discussion with one of my more politically argumentative friends about this topic. She is very intelligent but isn't really big on cars, and she doesn't see the down side of raising the CAFE. My standpoint is that in order to fix the automotive side of the problem (which is only a small part of the problem) people need to drive less, or have shorter commutes (or both preferably). Raising the CAFE will encourage people to drive more like that article infers, since it will cost people less to drive. That will put even more pressure on traffic systems and roads (many of which are already fully congested as it is) requiring more tax money to go into repairing roads and building new ones. More roads takes acreage away from building construction or plant and tree life. More driving also increases the number of accidents, injuries, and fatalities, which puts more stress on many other areas of our economy (hospitals, court system, police, etc). Overall, I find that these politicians are failing to see the whole picture, and it is a result of the public not seeing the whole picture (since the politicians just tout what the public wants).

That's it!! I'm emailing Hillary right now. Mars or bust! I have been fascinated with space and Mars since I was a kid, and have been consistently disappointed with our society's current lack of development (in the correct direction at least). As more money is poured into useless entertainment such as reality TV and nascar (:AH-HA_wink:), it will make it harder for our society to change directions, monetarily at least. I can take solace in the fact that computers still seem to be churning along at a fairly fast development pace. Ironically, a lot of computer development is driven forward by entertainment (3D games, home-theater, etc). The U.S. government won't put any serious resources into the space program until we have serious competition that we need to beat. Advancement thrives in competition after all. I predict that when Japan lands a rover on Mars there will be another space-race!

Every time I go to the gym, I see all the people on the elliptical bikes and other human-powered machines (treadmills are usually powered so they don't count), and I wonder how much potential energy is being wasted....

The cleanup needs to start in the industrial sector, I agree. I tried to make this point during an environmental discussion for my Eco class. I think solar panels are the answer, seriously. They are getting cheaper to produce, and are becoming more efficient.

But it is a possibly much more efficient means to store energy than traditional batteries (key word is possibly). And it can be generated using clean methods such as solar just like electricity. Here's something cool.

Recent scientific study funded by Al Gore shows that bicycles pollute! I will make 5 miles of daily walking mandatory by 2010, and increase that to 10 miles by 2015! And then finally 16 miles by 2020! By then, daily walking should cover the average American commute, potentially decreasing vehicle emissions to 0%! Vote for me!!