It will resemble the popular subcompact Ford Focus. Pollution-free fuel cells, which use hydrogen to create electricity, have become the centre of auto industry research. Carmakers believe they could eventually replace internal combustion engines. Many automakers, including Ford, General Motors, DaimlerChrysler, Toyota and Honda, are committed to building small numbers of fuel cell vehicles by 2004. The FCV has a range of about 160 kilometres and power that's comparable to the current Focus, Kopf said.
Fuel cells have several problems that have to be worked out before they're ready for widespread use.
Prototypes are far more expensive than regular cars. And the Focus FCV runs on compressed hydrogen gas, a complication because hydrogen is volatile, hard to store and hard to transport. Kopf said the Focus FCV will likely be sold for use in business fleets that can install equipment for handling hydrogen. We welcome your feedback. All rights reserved.