LA: exporting green tech to the world? - The Honda view

Honda announced a commercially available hydrogen fuel-cell car at the LA show - the FCX Clarity, based on the FCX concept we drove earlier in the year.

This big, beautiful five-seater executive car is part of the company's 'Blue Skies for our Children' initiative, and is the first fuel cell car to be put in the hands of retail customers, who will lease it for $600 (£300) a month as part of a three-year running trial.

Honda claims the power train is about the same size as that in a petrol-electric hybrid, and gives fuel economy equivalent to 68 miles per US gallon (81.6mpg Imperial). In the FCX Clarity, that allows a driving range of 270 miles per tank of hydrogen.

'This is three times the economy of a mid-sized petrol car and one-and-a-half times the economy of a hybrid,' says Honda.

'The challenges we face are still very real, but so is our determination to overcome them.'