Today, 2010 Canadian Olympic Hockey Team Captain and Anaheim Ducks Hockey Team Captain, Scott Niedermayer, will take delivery of a Honda FCX Clarity during a press conference at the Honda Center in Anaheim, CA. The press release states that "Niedermayer, an avid outdoorsman and environmental proponent off of the ice, will become the first professional athlete to reduce his carbon footprint by participating in Honda's FCX Clarity lease program".
The vehicle boasts a zero-emissions 240 mile range and a fuel efficiency three times that of a comparable gasoline powered automobile. While select participants have put over 1,000,000 miles on General Motor's Fuel Cell Equinox vehicles, the Clarity represents the first fuel cell vehicle available for lease in the United States. A successful lease program by Honda may lead to the eventual sale of their fuel cell vehicles here in the United States. Aside from Honda and General Motors, Toyota and Daimler have active fuel cell vehicle development programs.
Hydrogen filling stations are available in the Los Angeles basin area, as well as in New York City, which is where the rollout of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles is expected to take place. As long as the energy source for the hydrogen is clean and renewable, fuel cells offer a completely clean and renewable method of transport.
[Source: Press Release]
