What's this then?

This, is a mobile electricity generating station.

Really? It looks like a Honda with wheel spats.

Well, yes, it's that too. And yet so much more. This is Honda's latest FCV concept, a precursor to a 2016 production model that will actually be a for-real, on-sale, yes-you-can-buy-it-assuming-you-have-the-readies, hydrogen fuel cell car. We'll see it at this week's LA Auto Show.

Yeah right. Hydrogen, shmydrogen. Heard it all before. Never going to happen.

No, seriously, this is real, and Honda's not the only one. Toyota will launch its new Miria next year, BMW has a hydrogen i5 in the works and Hyundai is practically busting a gut to get a hydrogen powered car on the road. For all of Elon Musk's derision of hydrogen fuel cells (he's described them as "a load of rubbish") all of these car makers are determined to prove that hydrogen power can be clean, affordable and essentially fix the problem of the world wanting to drive cars while being ruined by everyone driving cars.

So, what's so great about this Honda?

The latest FCV Concept uses a fuel cell stack that's around a third smaller and lighter than before, yet which Honda claims is 60 per cent more efficient, offering a touring range of around 700km on a fill up of its high-pressure hydrogen tanks. That's a fill that takes approximately only three minutes, comparable to that for a conventional petrol car and therein lies hydrogen's appeal - it's zero emissions at the tailpipe (aside from water vapour) yet much more convenient than recharging batteries. The 100kW motor that draws energy from the fuel cell (that's about 135hp) should mean that the FCV will be competitive in power and performance terms, and Honda's efforts to make the cell stack smaller means that the production version should have a motor and fuel cell that will fit in one unit under the bonnet, leaving the cabin unimpeded and allowing Honda to make it a full five-seater rather than the four-seat layout of the concept. Expect it to cost around £50,000 when it eventually arrives here, although we'll need a few more hydrogen-capable fuel stations if we want to get it at all.

What about the power station bit?

Ah, this is a little more pie-in-the-sky, but Honda is proposing an add-on Power Feeding Concept - essentially a wall box that allows you to connect your FCV to your house, not to charge the car but the charge the house, using the FCV's fuel cell as a generator to provide electrical power in the event of a power cut or some sort of disaster.

The perfect car for the coming Zombie apocalypse then?

It would seem so, yes. Time to retire that Land Rover Defender with chicken-wire over the windows and a bonnet-mounted chainsaw.

Neil Briscoe - 26 Nov 2014