Test drive provides a feel for fuel cell cars

Test drive provides a feel for fuel cell cars

As far as test drives go, this was going to be a long one. Five days across, and at times crisscrossing, the congested roads of Southern California. Not something to look forward to, you might say, but in this case it was. I was stepping into what carmakers call the automotive future: a car powered by non-polluting hydrogen and fuel cells.

It'll be years, if at all, before fuel cell cars are widely driven, given the obstacles ahead — among them the high costs of fuel cells and hydrogen. But I couldn't resist the chance to see just how far the technology has developed.

About 60 fuel cell cars are being tested around the country, most in California, where anti-pollution rules are the toughest in the nation. But few are ready to be driven around without a team of engineers behind them.

The Honda FCX is one of those, and the company was quick to make one available when asked about a test drive this summer.

The request granted, I traveled to Honda America's headquarters in Torrance, Calif., where I expected a long session on what to monitor, what buttons not to press and how to react in case of any hydrogen leaks.

Instead, it was pretty much "here are the keys" and "this gauge shows you how many miles you have left in the tank."

"That's about all there is to it," Honda spokesman Juan Avila assured me before I took off for Santa Monica and two interviews for another story.

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