Toshihiro Mibe: Honda sees "quite difficult technological challenges" for hydrogen.
As Honda plots a zero-emission future, CEO Toshihiro Mibe is pooh-poohing proposals from rivals such as Toyota that hydrogen-burning engines might someday go mainstream.
Honda Motor Co. has studied the technology but doesn't see it as feasible for cars, Mibe says.
Hydrogen is definitely part of Honda's long-term game plan, the CEO says.
Mibe: Won’t be mainstream
But it will be used in fuel cells for long-range, larger vehicles, or in fuel cells as standalone power packs.
"We have conducted research into every possibility that's out there," Mibe told Automotive News late last year. "As for hydrogen engines, we see some quite difficult technological challenges. So, about 10 years ago, we decided this would not become mainstream."
Mibe's frank assessment comes as rival Toyota Motor Corp. steps up its own efforts to make hydrogen combustion a pillar of its multi-pronged zero-emission strategy.
Toyota President Akio Toyoda has demonstrated the technology in a race car on the circuit in Japan and is pitching the system, which burns compressed hydrogen gas, as a complementary approach to full electrics.
Toyoda: Part of future strategy
Also last year, shortly after becoming CEO, Mibe said that Honda will phase out internal combustion in automobiles by 2040, relying on full-electric and fuel cell vehicles by then.
Hydrogen combustion may have a future in certain niche applications, Mibe said.
But he did not elaborate on what those might be. Honda makes jet aircraft, Mibe noted, and batteries won't be able to power those. So future jet engines likely will have to run on green e-fuels, he said.
But right now, Honda's equation for automobiles doesn't count on combustion.
"If we look at what will become mainstream, probably for smaller mobility it will be EVs, and fuel cells for larger mobility," Mibe said. "That is the conclusion so far."
Despite Mibe's skepticism over hydrogen combustion, the Japanese automaker is one of a shrinking group of global players still pursuing fuel cell technology, which generates electricity from hydrogen by using a chemical process rather than combustion.
While Honda has been working with General Motors on next-generation fuel cell systems, other players still committed to the water-emitting powertrain technology are Toyota, BMW AG, Audi and Hyundai Motor Group.
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