Honda Unveils Next Gen Hydrogen Fuel Cell

February 21, 2025 By Matt Lister, Editor

Honda has pulled the wraps off its next-generation hydrogen fuel cell module, promising a leap forward in cost, durability, and efficiency.

Announced at the H2 & FC EXPO in Tokyo on Wednesday, the new system slashes costs in half while doubling durability compared to its predecessor.

It’s also three times more power-dense, making it significantly more compact and flexible for integration into different platforms.

Next-gen hydrogen fuel cell: What’s new?

Honda has been working on hydrogen fuel cells for decades, and this latest module is a shift away from its previous collaboration with General Motors (GM).

This one is all Honda, designed and built in-house, and it will enter mass production in 2027.

Headline specs include a 150 kW output, a 450-850V voltage range, and a maximum efficiency of 59.8%.

It’s also smaller – Honda has increased volumetric power density threefold, meaning more power in less space.

That makes it far easier to package in everything from vehicles to stationary power units.

Speaking of which, Honda isn’t just thinking about cars. The company is also rolling out its Fuel Cell Power Generator, a stationary hydrogen-based power supply designed for factories, offices, and other large facilities that need zero emissions power on demand.

This unit will enter production a year earlier, in 2026, and promises near-instant power delivery within 10 seconds of startup.

With zero emissions and the ability to scale up to 1,000 kW, it’s a strong contender for clean backup power solutions. If there was a nationwide refuelling network, would you buy a hydrogen car?

To put this in context, Honda’s first-generation fuel cell arrived in 2016 in the Clarity Fuel Cell, a car that never really caught on outside Japan and California.

The current unit, co-developed with GM, made its way into the Honda CR-V e:FCEV in 2024.

This next-gen module, however, is a clean-sheet design with serious improvements in cost and performance.

At 250 kg, the new module offers a power density of 0.60 kW/kg, making the fuel cell more practical and scalable.

It’s also designed to operate in temperatures as low as -30°C, meaning it should be viable in extreme conditions where batteries struggle.

Toyota's new hydrogen fuel cell system (3rd generation FC system).

Toyota announces brand new Gen 3 hydrogen Fuel Cell: Is this the diesel killer?

Honda is making hydrogen a central part of its long-term decarbonisation strategy. Alongside fuel cell vehicles, it’s looking at hydrogen-powered commercial trucks, construction machinery, and even off-grid power generation. It’s a four-pronged approach designed to make fuel cells a mainstream alternative to combustion engines and batteries.

Honda has always played the long game with hydrogen. The big question is whether wider infrastructure will catch up in time.

With fuel cell costs now dropping and flexibility increasing, it’s clear that Honda is betting on hydrogen sticking around.

Tesla Losing Ground to BYD - The Worlds Battery Leader

Tesla is not just a name of a brand—it is an empire—the king of electric cars, the company that revolutionized the industry. But today? That empire is crumbling. The Chinese automaker just overtook Tesla in global EV sales, and it is not slowing down. With cheaper cars, better supply chains, and government backing, it is expanding at an insane pace. Meanwhile, Tesla is cutting prices, struggling with production, and facing tougher competition than ever.

So, is this the end of Tesla’s dominance? What went wrong? And can Elon Musk save Tesla before it is too late? Let’s dive into it!

Chinese company BYD sold more electric vehicles than Elon Musk's Tesla in the last three months of 2023 as the two battled for top spot in the sector. BYD said on Monday it had sold a record 526,000 battery-only vehicles in the final quarter of 2023.

It marked the first quarter its battery-only sales have outpaced Tesla's. The US-based firm has seen demand slow as borrowing costs climb. However, for the whole of 2023, Mr Musk's Tesla still sold more.

On Tuesday, Tesla said it delivered a record 484,500 electric vehicles in the last three months of 2023 and 1.8 million for the year as a whole. The end-of-year performance was better than analysts had expected, as sales rose 20% from the same period in 2022 and picked up pace from earlier in 2023. Analyst Dan Ives of Wedbush Securities described the quarter as a "clear win" for Tesla.

But it fell short of earlier hopes. Last January, Mr Musk said that Tesla had the potential to achieve two million deliveries in 2023.

The firm cut prices repeatedly to try to woo buyers. The milestone achieved by BYD is a reminder of the challenges facing the firm, which helped to launch the electric vehicle industry. "As BYD has accelerated into the fast lane, it's fresh evidence of just how competitive the EV market has become and how hard it will be for Tesla to swerve back to head the pack," said Susannah Streeter, head of money and markets at Hargreaves Lansdown.

For the year as a whole, Shenzen-based BYD sold more than 3 million so-called-new energy vehicles (NEVs), which includes battery-only vehicles and hybrids. Almost 1.6 million of its total sales were battery-only vehicles, the firm said.

BYD's chief executive Wang Chuanfu co-founded BYD with his cousin in Shenzhen in 1995.

The company made a name for itself as a manufacturer of rechargeable batteries - used in smartphones, laptops and other electronics - that competed with pricier Japanese imports. It started selling its shares on the stock market in 2002 and diversified by purchasing a struggling state-owned car manufacturer, Qinchuan Automobile Company. Since 2008 BYD has counted veteran US investor Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway as a shareholder.

Analysts say BYD owes its growth to its original business - batteries. They are among the most expensive parts of an EV and making them in-house saves BYD a lot of money. Many of BYD's competitors rely on third-party manufacturers for batteries. BYD's battery business helped to give it flexibility to cut prices sharply at the end of 2023, lifting sales, which jumped by 70% in December alone.