Honda Working to Lower Price on Fuel Cell Cars to Gasoline-Equivalent

24 June 2005

Bloomberg. Honda is targeting lowering the price of its fuel-cell-operated vehicles to about the same as that of regular gasoline-engine-powered cars by 2020.

Honda is shooting for a price for its fuel cell cars between ¥3 million (US$27,500) and ¥4 million  (US$36,600)— a similar price as that of its Accord sedan. Honda won’t put an exact price on the current FCX fuel-cell car, nor disclose its exact costs.

“The fuel-cell technology may never be used,” if no one is able to cut production costs by 2020, [Yozo] Kami [who leads the fuel cell project] said. It may take another 10 years from now to cut the cost of such vehicles to 10 million yen [US$92,000], he added.

Currently, Honda leases its FCX (earlier post) in Japan for ¥800,000 per month on a one year term—equivalent to some US$88,000 per year. Honda’s 19 customers for the FCX include the states of California and New York in the U.S. and the Hokkaido prefecture government in northern Japan.

“Honda’s technology is praiseworthy,” said Atsushi Kawai, an analyst at Mizuho Investors Securities Ltd. in Tokyo, who rates Honda shares “neutral.” “But it will be a long time before fuel cell cars can compete.”