FCX declared World Green COTY 2009

Honda's hydrogen fuel cell-powered FCX Clarity has beaten off Mitsubishi's iMiEV, Toyota's iQ and 19 other contenders to win the 2009 World Green Car of the Year award, announced at this month's New York International Auto Show (more here).

The FCX Clarity (pictured here with owner Jamie-Lee Curtis) was the only fuel-cell powered vehicle in the list of nominees.

Eligibility for the award hinges on each nominee's being available or near available in at least one market. If it isn't in production, experimental prototyping has to have demonstrable near-future applicability and be available for full evaluation during 2008.

The FCX (Fuel Cell eXperimental) Clarity, a sleek hydrogen fuel cell-powered sedan, is the latest in a series of fuel cell vehicles Honda has been working on since 1999. It made its show debut in late 2007 and went on the road in limited lease numbers mid-late 2008 with Honda's delivery of its first Clarity to Japan's Ministry of the Environment. The program will see 200 of the vehicles leased out to government and corporate customers in the US and Japan over the next three years.

The four-seat sedan's electric motor draws its power from a fuel cell stack that generates electricity by combining hydrogen with oxygen, emitting nothing but water vapour in the process. Its only emission is steam, and Honda claims fuel efficiency of up to three times that of a modern petrol powered vehicle and twice that of a petrol-electric hybrid.

The World Green COTY nomination list is drawn up by 59 World Car jurors from 25 countries worldwide.

Other nominees for this year's award included BMW's 335d BluePerformance clean diesel, Mazda's Hydrogen Rotary RX8, the Mini E and several Volvos using the company's DRIVe technologies.

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