Japan · 2005 Japanese lease model · documented in Honda’s 2006 technical paper

Honda FCX (Honda FC Stack)

This small Honda made electricity from hydrogen and could keep working through a freezing winter.

Innovation pioneers

Exterior · Photo shows representative-generation. The source identifies the first-generation Honda FCX; the photograph was taken in 2007 and does not establish this individual car as a 2005 Japanese lease vehicle. Visually reviewed as the correct pre-Clarity FCX body.
First-generation Honda FCX on display · 韋駄天狗 · CC BY-SA 3.0

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A matching completed auction sale has not been verified for this exact year, body, trim, engine, transmission and market.

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A place in vehicle history

More than a set of wheels.

A car can be electric without carrying all its energy in a big battery. Honda’s FCX used hydrogen to make electricity aboard the car. The Japanese road-approved version reached Hokkaido’s government in January 2005, giving engineers experience in a place with cold winters. Honda’s 2006 engineering paper calls this the 2005 Model FCX.

Look a little closer.

Honda designed this fuel-cell system to start at temperatures as low as −20°C.

Photos show an example of the model or generation. The pictured vehicle’s year, equipment, or modifications can differ from the specification described here.

Making electricity in the cold

Honda used thin metal separators and a new electrolyte membrane inside the fuel-cell stack. These changes helped it operate below freezing, a major practical challenge for early fuel-cell cars.

Source: Honda · FCX delivered to Hokkaido government (January 2005) ↗

A motor without gear changes

Honda’s technical paper describes a motor and reduction gears, with no clutch or conventional gearshift. Traction control directly adjusts motor torque when a tire starts to slip.

Source: Honda Technical Review · Development of New Honda FCX (2006 paper) ↗

Where these facts come from

Selected facts checked for this edition. Some source pages link to broader model families. Last reviewed September 30, 2026.

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