AP TELEVISION
Wednesday, November 20, 2013
Los Angeles, California
1. Wide, convention floor at Los Angeles Auto Show
2. Wide, pan across cars covered with fabric waiting to be revealed
3. Wide, Chevrolet logo advertising new "Colorado" mid-size pickup truck
4. Medium, smoke and colored lights around new Subaru WRX, silky fabric slides off to unveil new car model in cherry red
5. Medium low, man peers in driver's side door of Subaru WRX
6. Wide, Honda stage with water and lights and concept car under wraps
7. Medium, screen above stage reads reads "Honda FCEV Concept"
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Tetsuo Iwamura, President and CEO, American Honda Motor Co.
"Today we want to focus on what we believe has the potential to become the ultimate solution to realizing ultra-low carbon mobility. And that is the fuel cell electric vehicle."
9. Wide, Iwamura speaks on stage in front of veiled concept car
10. Tight, rear bumper of concept car as Iwarmura walks in front
11. SOUNDBITE (English) Tetsuo Iwamura, President and CEO, American Honda Motor Co."The Honda FCEV concept!" (wide, fabric is whisked off car and music swells)
12. Wide, Honda sign on convention floor
13. Medium, woman tries to open door on concept car
14. Medium, man takes photo of car with cell phone
15. Tight, rear license plate pan up to Honda logo on rear bumper
16. SOUNDBITE (English) John O'Dell, Edmunds.com green vehicle analyst "Hydrogen fuel cells basically mix hydrogen and oxygen together, separate out the electrons and produce the electricity on board. In actuality, a hydrogen fuel cell car is an electric vehicle."
17. Tight, front of Honda concept car, zoom out to entire car
18. Tight, Honda insignia on front of car
19. Medium, photographer takes photo of car 20. SOUNDBITE (English) John O'Dell, Edmunds.com green vehicle analyst "The way Hyundai for instance tests its fuel cell tank? They light the car on fire. They've burnt up entire fuel cell vehicles to see what happens.
The pressure vent on the tank releases, the hydrogen goes up in a fan shape, it burns like a butane lighter, straight up in the air. And it dissipates in a couple of minutes."
21. Tight, curves on concept car, zoom out to entire car
22. Tight, Iwamura speaks to Japanese reporters
23. Medium pan, concept car
24. SOUNDBITE (English) John O'Dell, Edmunds.com green vehicle analyst "It's a more compact package and it's lighter than a big battery pack that you need for a plug-in electric vehicle."
25. Wide, audience waiting for Hyundai press conference
26. Medium, people at Hyundai presser
27. Wide, Hyundai Tucson ix35 hydrogen fuel cell compact SUV spinning slowly
28. Tight, Hyundai fuel cell vehicle spinning 29. Wide, Hyundai stage
30. SOUNDBITE (English) John Krafcik, President and CEO, Hyundai Motor America "You've got driving range of up to 300 miles. You can refuel them in just a few minutes. And there's endless choice in size and configuration.
That's because it's more space- and weight-efficient to multiply the number of fuel cells than it is to multiply the number of batteries."
31. Wide, Krafcik on stage
32. Medium, Hyundai Tucson compact SUV
33. Wide, Toyota display at convention
34. Tight, Toyota sign
35. Tight zoom out to medium, worker polishing Dodge Challenger anniversary edition
36. Medium, model in white dress and boots with Dodge Challenger
Cars that run on hydrogen and exhaust only water vapor are emerging to challenge electric vehicles as the world's transportation of the future.
At the Los Angeles Auto Show Wednesday, Honda and Hyundai automakers unveiled hydrogen fuel cell vehicles to be delivered to the general public as early as next spring.
Toyota promised a mass-produced fuel cell car by 2015 at the Tokyo car show earlier.
Hyundai Motor Co. will be the first to the mass market in the U.S. It unveiled a hydrogen-powered Tucson small SUV that will be leased to consumers for $499 per month for three years with $3,000 down.
Hydrogen cars are appealing because unlike electric vehicles, they have the range of a typical gasoline car and can be refueled quickly. Experts say the industry also has overcome safety and reliability concerns that have hindered distribution in the past.
But hydrogen cars still have a glaring downside � refueling stations are scarce, and costly to build.
Consumers can expect costs in line with some luxury models.
Hyundai is offering to pay the hydrogen and maintenance costs. The company will start leasing in the Los Angeles area, where most of the state's nine fueling stations are located. California lawmakers have allocated $100 million to build 100 more. Honda wouldn't reveal any pricing details.
Hydrogen cars, experts say, have an advantage over battery-powered electric cars because drivers don't have to worry about running out of electricity and having to wait hours for recharging.
Hydrogen fuel cells use a complex chemical process to separate electrons and protons in hydrogen gas molecules. The electrons power a car's electric motor, which turns the wheels.
Since the hydrogen isn't burned, there's no pollution. Instead, oxygen also is pumped into the system, and when it meets the hydrogen ions and electrons, that creates water and heat. The only byproduct is water.
A fuel cell produces only about one volt of electricity, so many are stacked to generate enough juice.
Toyota said its new fuel cell vehicle will go on sale in Japan in 2015 and within a year later in Europe and U.S.
Toyota's fuel cell car is a "concept" model called FCV that looks like a sleeker Prius gas-electric hybrid.
Honda, which has leased about two-dozen fuel cell cars since 2005, took the wraps off a futuristic-looking FCEV concept vehicle in Los Angeles.
Honda executives predict that it will take five years for the hydrogen refueling stations to reach significant numbers outside California, and up to 25 years to go nationwide.
But skeptics say hydrogen fueling stations are more expensive than electric car charging stations, partly because electricity is almost everywhere and new and safe ways for producing, storing and transferring
hydrogen will be needed.
