Honda leasing first consumer fuel-cell car

Starting this summer, $600 a month will get you one of the first fuel-cell vehicles in the world.

Of course, not many of them are selling, and if you don't live in Torrance, Irvine, or Santa Monica, California, you can't get one at all. While GM is basically giving away its fuel-cell Chevy Equinox, Honda is the first major car company to lease them.

Honda won't be making any money off the cars, but it does come in first in this particular race. But this is only one battle in the long-standing fuel-cell war between GM and Honda.

The FCX Clarity is a gorgeous car. I honestly wish Honda just made a hybrid version with the same body. But, instead, (and unlike the Equinox) it's a fuel-cell-only model.

That worked well, of course, for Toyota with its hybrid-only model. But the landscape with fuel-cell vehicles is quite different, especially since there is no hydrogen fueling (or production) infrastructure in place.

The $600-per-month leases expire in three years and include maintenance. The Clarity can travel 270 miles on a tank of hydrogen -- roughly equal to that of a gasoline-powered car.

Unfortunately, owners will be limited to a fairly small area of driving, since they'll need to be sure to get back to one of the few local fueling stations every 270 miles.

Via Honda