I must admit, I’ve never really been a huge fan of the Japanese car company but their hydrogen cell powered car is something of sheer scientific brilliance. If you were lucky enough to witness the appearance of the Honda FCX Clarity on last Sunday’s ‘Top Gear’, then you’ll know which car I’m referring to. It runs off an electrochemical reaction between hydrogen (from a pump) and oxygen (in the air) and produces electrical energy with water as the only by-product. I realise this “scientific talk” is a bit dull and takes a moment to digest, so in simple terms, the car is filled with hydrogen at a petrol station, it reacts with the air and finally electricity is produced to fill the car. With water as the only excess in this reaction, the result is a revolutionary resolution to one of the world’s most pressing issues.

‘So why haven’t they been put into mass-production?’ I hear you cry. Well the concept of a hydrogen powered car arrives with advantages and disadvantages.

Firstly, obtaining a mass amount of hydrogen could potentially prove difficult due to the means in which it’s collected: it has to be separated from other elements in order to be pure hydrogen*. This is the point where most people would see the difficulty in actually finding enough substances with hydrogen in it for this kind of operation. However, when you take into account that 2/3 of our entire planet is filled with a liquid blue, harmful substance that is made from the stuff, it seems that isn’t a major issue. Besides, we managed to find a way of digging up the ground for petrol, so why not some form of “rain collection” or transporting of water from the sea?

So a solution to one of the main concerns of the entire world’s population is imminent, yet there has only been limited news coverage. I, for one, hadn’t heard of this car until ‘Top Gear’ presented it to me yesterday evening. I suppose it’s partly due to the news not wanting to get our hopes up, that’d be like telling a young child they were getting a bike for Christmas, but then only buying the bell because you couldn’t quite afford the whole shebang. Also the Honda hasn’t actually arrived in Britain yet as there aren’t nearly enough hydrogen tanks at petrol stations to sustain such a car. It’s certainly a lot cheaper than petrol, and the price of hydrogen would be much less likely to inflate like petrol did a few months back. Pessimistic about the World’s issues or not, the Honda and the hydrogen powered car is one to keep an eye out for.

*note: I was always terrible at science so excuse me if I'm wrong!