Honda FCX Clarity to Serve as Pace Car in the US

The North American division of Honda announced today it has prepared an FCX Clarity fuel cell-electric vehicle as a pace car for the 2011 Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, March 25-27. This is the opening race of the 2011 IZOD IndyCar season, and the FCX Clarity is the first hydrogen-powered vehicle to pace an IZOD IndyCar Series race in the United States.

The FCX Clarity previously served as the official pace car for the 2008 Indy Japan event held at Twin Ring Motegi in Tochigi, Japan, on April 17, 2008.

In the United States, the FCX Clarity will perform pace car duties at several races throughout the weekend including the IZOD IndyCar Series, Firestone Indy Lights events and Acura Sports Car Challenge. Additionally, the FCX Clarity will lead the IZOD IndyCar series cars at the annual Festival of States Parade taking place on March 24 in downtown St. Petersburg.

The FCX Clarity is propelled by an electric motor that runs on electricity generated in the fuel cell and the vehicle's only emission is water. Its fuel efficiency is more than two times that of a modern gasoline-powered automobile.

The vehicle produces electricity onboard from hydrogen via Honda's innovative V Flow fuel cell stack with water vapor as its only emission and has a driving range of up to 240 miles (386 km). According to Honda, refueling the FCX Clarity takes less then 5 minutes.

"Customers pay $600 per month for three years to lease the FCX Clarity from Honda, which covers maintenance costs. This lease program is the world's first large-scale retail initiative for fuel cell electric vehicle technology," Honda explains.