If Honda's experimental walking assist device design will push through, it will definitely signal a new hope for the elderly or those who have weakened leg muscles to walk again. After all, much has been devoted in this research that began back in 1999. More on this after the jump!

Honda has shown interest in mass producing eco-friendly fuel cell-using cars in the coming ten years. These cars emit no carbon dioxide get their power from the electricity produced by reaction of hydrogen and oxygen.

But they are facing a difficulty that's keeping them from making their plans into reality. If you want to know more about Honda's plans, click on the "read more" link.

Honda has finally unveiled the fuel-hybrid concept car that they've featured way back in 2004. During the recent LA Auto Show, the production version of the FCX Clarity finally made its debut and will hopefully be seen on the roads sometime soon.

The car runs on electricity using a hydrogen fuel cell instead of conventional gasoline. So asides from looking pretty sleek, it's pretty eco-friendly for those environmentally conscious drivers. Check out more details of this "green" machine right after the jump!

 

A futuristic car that looks like it came from the set of Minority Report has graced the Los Angeles Auto Show this year. Called the Honda 1^4 (One to the Power of Four), the car runs partly from solar power; but that's not the interesting part. The interesting part is that it splits into four pieces.

The car was made with carpooling in mind. The idea is that four people share the car until the point where they have to split up to get to their separate destinations and then the car will split into four single seater pods. Although they are also maneuverable when separate, it doesn't move as fast.

It would certainly be interesting to see how this little baby would affect commuting, but it probably won't hit the streets anytime soon (it's still a concept car). On a side note it looks like it was inspired by the Fantastic Four's vehicle.

With global warming and climate change becoming bigger issues more than ever, car companies are showing that they're not completely oblivious to what's going on. In fact, a lot of them have developed and are in the process of improving hybrid cars that reduce fuel emissions.

About a decade ago, electric cars were viewed as a possible solution to the progressing air pollution problem. However, the models produced by GM and Honda proved to be no more like novelty cars as they had serious issues with reliability, mileage, and utility. In the end, the idea was shunned by consumers and abandoned partly by manufacturers.

Recently, however, car companies have blended qualities of gas engines with electric cars. These were called hybrid cars, and the cooperation between electricity and gas would mean that less fuel would be consumed while maintaining a performance level close to that of the gas-powered vehicles. It looked good initially as popular car lines by Toyota, Honda and others picked up the alternative. It would only be a matter of time, however, before the mileage issues rang again.

This year, car companies have submitted reports to the Environment Protection Agency (EPA) that their products have not only gotten more nature-friendly, they're also more efficient at using gas. The Honda Civic, Ford Escape and the Toyota Camry are all posting better numbers that reflect less emissions and more utility.

The ball is now in the hands of future buyers. To be nature-friendly, buyers will have to shell out somewhere between US$ 1, 500 to US$ 4, 500 more than the cost of non-hybrid models. Manufacturers say that the consumers will end up getting their money back in the form of money they save from gas, but some experts say that it would take 1.5 to 10 years before you break even, depending on what car you're using.

On the high-tech end of the alternative fuels scale, Honda's pushing its hydrogen-powered FCX concept from concept to production line as soon as possible, 2008 even. But a couple of notches below that, Honda's also pushing another alternative fuel for cars: natural gas. With the Civic GX. And it's a lot closer to home than hydrogen power - both tech-wise and fuel-wise.

Advantages of using compressed natural gas (CNG) as the fuel of choice, at least for the short-term: the fuel costs as little as one-third of gasoline prices. It's domestically produced. The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy calls it THE cleanest-burning fossil fuel on earth.

The only changes you need to make to a regular Civic are the CNG tank and fuel lines, and a specialized fuel injector. The estimated mileage you can pull out of CNG is about 29/39 mpg. And contrary to fears, CNG is less volatile than gasoline.

What's the bad news? How many public natural gas stations do you know of? Exactly. The GX's fuel tank holds only about, in gasoline terms, 8 gallons of CNG. Without a robust infrastructure of CNG pumps across the country, don't expect the GX to last you on a cross-country trip from the middle of nowhere to the middle of nowhere. Not unless you like pushing cars.

But wait! You can now gas up your natural gas guzzler right at home! Details of that at the full article.

350 miles on one tank of fuel is respectable, but not terribly above average - unless the fuel is free.

We first brought you news about Honda's FCX Concept Car back in June. Since then, the competition for the "green auto" market has intensified, and Honda has now announced a target date of 2008 for public release. It promises to be the first affordable hydrogen-fuelled automobile widely available to average consumer. The power generator which generates the electricity that actually runs the vehicle is 20% smaller and 30% lighter than its most recent predecessor, and allows the vehicle to travel up to 350 miles on a "fill-up."

Other companies, such as BMW, have been dabbling in hydrogen fuel-cell technology and hybrid cars. Hydrogen-powered cars are available, but at a price of almost 0,000 there haven't been many takers.

In a related story, Honda has come up with a catalytic converter for their high-tech Diesel powered vehicles. Diesel engines are far more efficient than their gasoline-powered counterparts - but historically, far more polluting as well. This particular vehicle should be available in the U.S. within the next three years. In the meantime, you might be interested to know that a Diesel engine was originally designed to run on used vegetable oil, which is far more environmentally friendly.

Your car will smell like french fries, however...