Honda Motor Co. said Thursday it has developed a home energy station that generates hydrogen from natural gas for use in fuel cell motor vehicles while supplying households with electricity and heat.
The newly developed HES is currently located at Honda R&D Americas Inc., Honda's research and development unit in Torrance, Calif.
It is being used in experiments aimed at facilitating the development of a practical system, the automaker said.
The HES features a reformer that extracts hydrogen from natural gas, a tank that stores pressurized hydrogen and a fuel cell unit that supplies electricity.
The experimental system is capable of producing 400 liters of hydrogen, enough to refill the tank of a Honda FCX fuel cell vehicle each day. It can also generate 5 kilowatts of electricity.
Fuel cell vehicles are widely regarded as the most promising pollution-free vehicles yet developed because they are powered by electricity that is generated through the chemical reaction between hydrogen and oxygen.
They emit just water.