Living the Hydrogen Life

Los Angeles IN July 2005, Jon Spallino; his wife, Sandy; and their two daughters became minor celebrities — at least in California, and mostly in their hometown of Redondo Beach. They were the first family to enter into a two-year, $500-a-month lease of a Honda FCX fuel-cell car. Driving the FCX meant being behind the wheel of one of the company’s priciest ventures in alternative fuels. The neighbors just thought the car was weird.Honda will release the next-generation FCX in about six months and will make a limited number available to more customers. While the company said that many improvements would be made in performance, fuel economy and looks, the thought is likely to remain: people are driving something weird. So who better to describe living la vida fuel cell than the Spallino family?No strangers to alternative fuel, the Spallinos brought home the FCX, which the company said was worth $1 million, when they already had a natural-gas Honda Civic in the driveway. However, the hydrogen car came with a special challenge. “Fueling, period,” said Mr. Spallino, 42, the chief financial officer of a construction and engineering company. He commutes to the office in the FCX a couple of times a week, a round trip of 75 miles. The Spallinos also drive it around their community.They still have the Civic and also have a 2007 Lexus ES 350 for extended trips. “The frustration has been in getting fueling stations online,” he said. “But the silver lining is that a few have come online very recently that have made a lot of that problem go away for me. For the general public, it would still be a big issue.”He expected another fueling site to open along his route within the next 90 days, which he said would allow him to drive the FCX more. As it stands, he fills up once or twice a week and averages 170 miles on a tank. Honda pays for his fuel. The Spallinos live with that inconvenience because they want to contribute to the bigger picture, which Mr. Spallino sees as “trying to advance the technology that I think can help our country and planet, and, frankly, help get us off the fossil-fuel drug.” If that means acting as an impromptu spokesman for fuel cells while buying groceries, so be it. “I am always asked one of two questions: ‘Where did you get that?’ or ‘Can I get one?’ ”Occasionally, people ask about the safety of all that hydrogen in the car, “but that’s more, I assume, out of curiosity than real fear,” Mr. Spallino said. He said he was not nervous. “No, I’m really not, because somebody’s got to do it, and why not me?” His auto insurance company would provide only liability and bodily-injury coverage. Honda pays the collision insurance, “because they’re going to take the risk of the million-dollar crunch,” he said.But it’s the valet-parking guys who are most stumped by the FCX; they can never tell whether the engine is running. “I say, ‘It’s on; just look at the dashboard and you’ll see a little indicator saying, ready to drive,’ ” Mr. Spallino said, laughing. His children, Adrianna, 13, and Anna, 11, have a different approach to the fuel-cell lifestyle. “They’re more interested in the attention it gets,” Mr. Spallino said. “Their first interest is, ‘Wow, Dad, let’s take the fuel-cell car because my friends think it’s cool and people on the street wave at us.’ ” Their time in the FCX has been so educational and satisfying that the Spallinos said they would lease a new one. Honda said that “they have been a great customer, and we intend to continue existing relationships, but the delivery plan has not yet been finalized.” The Spallinos said they didn’t mind the wait. They renewed their current FCX lease for another year.Powered By iWebRSS.co.cc