Honda’s future fuel cell vehicles to sport conventional styling

Honda’s latest Fuel Cell Vehicle, due out this week at the Tokyo Motor Show, looks radically different from anything else in the automaker’s lineup, but that could change by the end of the decade.

That’s because Honda is working alongside General Motors to develop an all-new hydrogen fuel cell system by 2020. That new fuel cell promises to be significantly smaller than today’s unit, making it easier to package into conventional vehicles.

“The most important thing with this FCV is getting the fuel cell stack under the bonnet,” Kiyoshi Shimizu, chief engineer for large projects at Honda’s R&D center, told Autocar. “That means that it can be accommodated with gasoline engine-like packaging in the future, and this opens up lots of possibilities; we could use the same stack in an SUV as in a saloon. In the future we will not need a dedicated design for a fuel cell vehicle.”

Using more conventional styling could help jumpstart fuel cell sales. Cost reduction will be another big help; The fuel cell stack in Honda’s FCV is 90 percent cheaper to build than the one used in the company’s previous FCX Clarity. Those costs should only continue to fall with further development.

Honda will introduce its next-generation FCV in 2020, but it remains to be seen when the tech might be offered in a run-of-the-mill model like the CR-V crossover or Accord mid-size.