| American Honda Motor and FuelMaker Corporation have strengthened their strategic alliance in order to bring to market an affordable appliance for consumers to refuel natural gas vehicles at home by early 2005.
Honda, which has owned almost 20 per cent of Toronto-based FuelMaker Corporation since 2000, is working directly with FuelMaker to complete development of Phill, the natural gas home refueling appliance. As part of this alliance, Honda and FuelMaker are announcing plans to begin retail sales of the Phill refuelling appliance and Civic GX natural gas vehicle beginning in California in spring 2005. The Civic GX, now in its seventh year of sales in the US, has to this point been marketed only to fleets.
The Phill home refueling appliance will be available for purchase in limited quantities in California by spring 2005. The retail price of Phill will be approximately $2,000. Depending on Federal, State, and local government rebates, the actual cost of ownership may be reduced to consumers.
Honda and FuelMaker Strengthen Alliance
Honda and FuelMaker share a vision for home refuelling as a solution to the challenge of making natural gas a practical alternative to petrol for consumers. “The biggest obstacle to broader acceptance of natural gas vehicles is the limited availability of refuelling stations,” said Tom Elliott, executive vice president of American Honda. “This alliance with FuelMaker is great for Honda because it will give our customers a personalised solution to refuelling. Our research indicates people like the convenience of filling up at home. Plus, natural gas offers many benefits as an alternative to gasoline and is an abundant domestic resource that strengthens America’s energy independence.”
FuelMaker developed Phill, the world’s first low-cost, home-based fuelling appliance, which can be mounted to a garage wall, indoors or outdoors, to allow natural gas-powered vehicles to be refueled overnight directly from a homeowner’s existing natural gas supply line.
“We developed Phill to make home refueling safe and simple, and with Honda as a partner we will make it a reality,” said John Lyon, chief executive officer of FuelMaker Corporation.
The popularity of natural gas-powered vehicles is gaining momentum as more states enact legislation to permit such vehicles in carpool lanes with just a single occupant. Vehicles powered by natural gas are inherently cleaner than their conventional gasoline-powered counterparts. The US Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) has labelled the US-made Honda Civic GX the “cleanest internal combustion engine-powered vehicle ever tested.”
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