March 1, 2002-Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (HMC) announced today that it has received Japanese Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport approval for the FCX V4 fuel cell vehicle equipped with a 350-atmosphere high-pressure hydrogen tank.

Honda has applied the high-pressure tank technology accumulated through natural gas-powered vehicle development to fit the FCX-V4 with a 350-atmosphere high-pressure hydrogen tank, achieving a significantly extended driving range of 315km. This marks the first time in Japan that a fuel cell vehicle equipped with a 350-atmosphere high-pressure hydrogen tank has been approved by the Japanese Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and tested on public roads.

The FCX-V4 offers improved top speed, acceleration, and collision safety performance, as compared to the FCX-V3, which commenced public road testing in July 2001. The FCX-V4 brings Honda fuel cell vehicles close to the performance required of a production model.

Honda is already testing the FCX-V4 on public roads in the U.S. as part of its participation in the California Fuel Cell Partnership's (CaFCP) fuel cell vehicle public-road test project. U.S. test results will be combined with those of Japanese public road testing to constitute a database of vehicle performance under actual driving conditions.