Honda bailed on the Clarity โ its only hydrogen-powered car in the U.S. โ but the automaker hasnโt quit on fuel cells.
Thatโs the message Honda sent with a peculiar announcement today: Itโs putting some old Clarity fuel cells back to work, combining them into a backup power system for its data center just south of Los Angeles.
This is just a โproof of concept,โ Honda told TechCrunch, but it aims to commercialize the tech and sees potential applications beyond helping data centers keep the lights on.
The used fuel cell systems in Hondaโs backup-power demonstration once powered leased Clarities (via an electrochemical reaction that combines hydrogen and oxygen to generate electricity). Honda retired these used fuel cells for transport, but they apparently still work well enough to drive its server farm in case of a power failure. Previously, Honda relied on diesel for backup power at the facility. (Honda said it uses this particular data center to โsecurely maintain and access its proprietary data,โ because โautomotive design is data intensive.โ)
Itโs nice to hear that Honda found a use for its old fuel cells, but crucially, this demonstration isnโt as environmentally friendly as it could be. The company told TechCrunch that it isnโt exclusively using green hydrogen in the pilot, which means at least some of it was generated via fossil fuels.
This is the trouble with using hydrogen to generate electricity: Fuel cells do so while spitting out only water and heat as exhaust, but theyโre still indirectly pollutive if that hydrogen comes from dirty sources (as most hydrogen fuel does). Correcting this demands a whole lot more green hydrogen production, on top of whatever infrastructure is needed to deliver the hydrogen. This is why some automakers donโt believe in the future of hydrogen-powered cars; they argue itโs simply too much work to go that route.
But! Honda still believes in hydrogen-powered cars. In fact, this demonstration is also kind of an ad for Hondaโs next-generation fuel cells, which the company developed with General Motors.
As Honda tells it, the next-gen fuel cell systems will power its upcoming hydrogen-powered vehicle, which is โbased on the Honda CR-Vโ and is due in 2024.
Honda also plans to use these new fuel cell systems for backup power as it scales the tech. That means this effort wonโt be as circular, if at all, when itโs commercialized. Yet, on the upside, Honda said it intends to exclusively use green hydrogen when it commercializes the backup-power units.
Beyond data centers, Honda added that itโs considering other applications, including โpeak shaving.โ This means Honda thinks industrial customers could use its generators at peak times, when electricity is priciest and grids are strained.
Honda said it aims to develop its proof of concept into a โnew business model.โ Yet, the pilot is also a convenient way for the company to talk up its new fuel cells. As battery-electric cars permeate the U.S. market, Honda has an interest in keeping hydrogen in headlines.
Hondaโs aging hydrogen fuel cells get new life in data center by Harri Weber originally published on TechCrunch
Franklin Chang-Dรญaz gets into his car, turns on the radio, and hears the news about another increase in the price of gasoline. But he sets off knowing that his trip wonโt be any more expensive: His tank is filled with hydrogen. His car takes that element and combines it with oxygen in a fuel cell that works like a small power plant, creating energyโwhich goes into a battery to power the carโand water vapor. Not only will Chang-Dรญazโs trip cost no more than it did yesterday, it will also pollute far less than a traditional gasoline-powered car would.
Chang-Dรญaz would like to have a public hydrogen station nearby whenever he needs to fill his tank, but that isnโt possible yet, either in his native Costa Rica or in any other Latin American country. He ends up instead at the hydrogen station he built himself, as part of a project aimed at demonstrating that hydrogen generated with renewable energy sourcesโgreen hydrogenโis the present, not the future.
A physicist, former NASA astronaut, and the CEO of Ad Astra Rocket Company, Chang-Dรญaz has a clear vision. Green hydrogen, he believes, is a fundamental player in lowering emissions from transportation and converting regions that import fossil fuelsโsuch as his small Central American countryโinto exporters of clean energy, key to avoiding the catastrophic effects of global warming.