Globally renowned automobile company, Honda, is set to launch a fuel cell electric vehicle in 2024 based on its bestselling CR-V crossover.
The automaker said it will produce the CR-V variant at its Performance Manufacturing Center in Marysville, Ohio, as part of its strategy to go fully electric by 2040 and carbon neutral by 2050.
Instead of a battery, fuel cells use hydrogen and oxygen to create electricity that powers the vehicle.
Honda’s vehicle is going to be one of the first models to combine a plug-in feature with fuel cell technology, enabling the driver to switch between its onboard battery for shorter trips and hydrogen supply for longer trips.
Fuel cells boast a distant advantage over battery electric vehicles because they can be refueled in three to four minutes and travel longer distances before replenishing the power supply.
However, the technology is not ready for mass adoption. The U.S. network of public hydrogen stations is currently only available in California and in much shorter supply than EV chargers.
Honda is expected to release more details about the CR-V-based fuel cell SUV closer to its launch.
The Japanese automobile company, however, launched the sixth-generation CR-V in 2022 and expects the crossover’s hybrid version to represent half of the nameplate’s annual sales.
