Farewell to conventional electric motors

Honda is joining the hydrogen engine vehicles! Nowadays, many manufacturing vehicles companies are very concerned about using clean energies[1], and Honda is trying to compete against them. The Japanese company is showing its power with a technological innovation, making cars move using fuel cell technology. This will mean a contribution to clean transport and, as a consequence, to the environment.

There is an environmental concern and it's fantastic the Japanese company and others are listening to it. It's true Toyota has already manufactured a hydrogen engine, so does this mean Honda is copying Toyota? We'll see.

Honda origins

It's a worldwide known Japanese company founded in 1948 by Soichiro Honda, an engine engineer.

Honda manufactures vehicles and transport technology, let's see what they manufacture in more detail:

• Automobiles: they have many cars, from small ones to SUVs[2] and supercars. Their most famous cars are the Honda Civic, the Accord and the CR-V.
• Motorcycles: you might relate this company with cars, but they are also known for their motorcycles. I'm sure you have seen one on the roads.
• Transport technology: the company is also developing advanced technology like robots, plane engines, and the protagonist of this article, hydrogen engines.

Toyota vs.

Honda

Two of the biggest and most popular Japanese car companies are fighting for being the best at hydrogen engine manufacturing. It's being thought Honda is copying Toyota because the latter has been considered a powerful company when it comes to the use of hydrogen instead of gasoline, until now. Honda is carving out a niche on the hydrogen engine market and they are confident they can do it and even better than what's already being manufactured.

So, Honda has come up with a new hydrogen engine with 174 horsepower. This means a very powerful and environmentally friendly engine.

What is a hydrogen engine?

You should know what hydrogen engines are because they are the future of clean vehicles, that's why we are explaining it very clearly. These engines don't burn fuel, which is common in the cars we have been using for years and years.

Hydrogen engines use a battery called fuel cell which transforms hydrogen into electricity, which makes cars move. What's remarkable about this? These cars don't emit any carbon dioxide, smoke nor bad odors, the only thing you will see coming out of their tailpipe is water vapor.

Honda's new engine

Honda is not manufacturing this engine on its own, General Motors is also behind this project.

These two companies are coming up with a hydrogen engine with amazing features:

• 174 horsepower: this engine is powerful enough to be used by cars, trucks and even lorries.
• Smaller and lighter: they are developing a smaller and lighter engine than the ones already made by other companies. This is good because the engine could be used in more types of vehicles.
• Recharging: the Japanese company is capable of launching hydrogen cars that recharge faster than others.
• Cold weather: hydrogen engines have always had difficulties to properly function in cold climates, but not this new one.
• Durability: you won't need to fix it so many times because it lasts double the time of previous versions.

Importance of this new engine

More companies are leaving fuel out, like gasoline and diesel, because they pollute so much. However, changing to a cleaner energy is not as easy as it seems: there aren't enough hydrogen filling stations, it's difficult to make them as powerful as fuel ones and Honda wants them to be affordable, which is a complex task.

Even though this is a difficult time for hydrogen engines, when it comes to infrastructures, Honda wants to launch their hydrogen engine as soon as possible.

We're witnessing a change in the automotive industry and this means a lot.

The environment is suffering so much from human activity, so this is good news!

References

1. ^ Nowadays, many manufacturing vehicles companies are very concerned about using clean energies (unionrayo.com)
2. ^ SUVs (www.honda.co.uk)