Honda To Lease Fuel Cell Powered FCX

Honda, after unveiling the FCX at an L.A. auto show, said only a limited number of customers will be offered the three year lease with a $600 monthly payment.

Those drivers will also have to live in Southern Calif., they say, because they will need access to area service and refueling stations.

The FCX -- modeled after an earlier concept vehicle unveiled in 2005 -- gets 68 miles per gallon, doubling the Honda Accord, a driving range of 270 miles, and can get up to 100 mph.

Honda is boasting the FCX as “a roomy four-passenger sedan,” with “smooth, strong acceleration, great handling and a quiet ride.”

General Motors also made an announcement today, that they will offer 100 fuel-cell cars in California, New York and Washington D.C. by next year.

The fuel-cell powered Chevy Equinox SUVs will be given out only to hand picked drivers but the company says it expects to produce roughly 1 million hydrogen vehicles world-wide by 2012.

A fuel-cell car generates electricity by combining hydrogen and oxygen inside of a fuel cell stack. The FCX Clarity generates its own electricity on board the vehicle inside the fuel cell.

Honda will not say how many FCX Clarity's they plan to lease. Vehicles will be available, Honda says, only in the Torrance, Santa Monica and Irvine areas.