The day will soon arrive that when you press on the gas pedal, it won’t be just gasoline or diesel that your car burns. Honda Cars Philippines Inc. (HCPI) and the Department of Energy (DOE) gave us a glimpse of the possibilities as they presented an alternative-fuel and technology forum at the Palms Country Club, Alabang, on 27 October 2006. The forum discussed the various fuels and propulsion methods currently available, and presented vehicle technologies that can best take advantage of those solutions.

Honda highlighted its various products that can run on fuels other than gasoline or diesel. The local Honda lineup runs only on gasoline, but there are a variety of solutions available in other countries.

One such alternative fuel is compressed natural gas (CNG). CNG is composed mostly of methane and small amounts of propane and butane. The fuel is considered a cleaner alternative to gasoline and diesel as its produces less emissions and pollutants. Taxis in Hongkong, Singapore, and Manila have been adopting the fuel as a lower-cost alternative. For private cars, states such as New York and California are encouraging the use of CNG vehicles. Honda has an entry in that market also, the Civic GX, a dedicated CNG powered passenger-car. The Civic GX is rated at 16.6 km/liter on the highway. A home-refilling station that taps into natural gas supply lines is also available to lower costs even further.

Another possibility is ethyl alcohol, also know as ethanol. Ethyl alcohol can be produced biologically through the fermentation of sugar. Flexible-fuel vehicles (FFV) can run on various mixtures of gasoline and ethyl alcohol. In 2006, Honda unveiled new Civic and Fit (aka Jazz) FFVs that can run on up to 100 percent ethanol. The cars will be introduced in Brazil, where ethanol is widely available, thanks to a progressive and deliberate government policy to promote the renewable fuel.

In about ten or twenty years’ time, the least-polluting solution may become a commercial reality—the hydrogen fuel cell. In a fuel cell, onboard hydrogen fuel is combined with oxygen in the air to produce electric current and pure water as the only emission. Honda has been a proponent of the technology with its FCX. The FCX is a three-door hatchback powered by an 86 kilowatt fuel cell developed in-house. This is the first fuel car that was made available for lease by individual customers—a Californian family started leasing an FCX in 2005. The FCX boasts not only of zero emissions, but also remarkable efficiency—three times that of a gasoline-powered vehicle, or twice that of a hybrid.

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