Honda’s Hydrogen CR-V Takes Aim at Pikes Peak

Honda has made up its mind: if electric vehicles have already scaled the heights, why not tackle the next buzzword—hydrogen? So on June 22, a CR-V e:FCEV will set out to conquer the 4,302-meter summit of Pikes Peak. Despite the alphabet soup of acronyms, the vehicle is essentially a regular CR-V body with a single electric motor. The twist? It runs on hydrogen.

This isn’t some custom-built race machine either. Under the hood is the exact same powertrain as the street-legal version: a front-mounted motor, two hydrogen tanks and a 17.7 kWh battery barely big enough to run a summer grill. But in the exhibition class, it’s not about speed—it’s about stealing the spotlight. And that’s where Honda sees its advantage.

The car received a modest makeover courtesy of HRC USA and HART, Honda’s in-house tuning crews. The suspension was dropped, better tires were fitted and a roll cage was installed. No performance gains, but it certainly looks the part.

Behind the wheel will be famed drifter Dai Yoshihara, more accustomed to sideways action than hillclimbs. This time, the goal is simple: just make it to the top. For refueling, Honda is relying on its new suitcase-sized ZEI hydrogen station, which sounds more like a startup pitch than a functioning solution—but we’ll see soon enough.

Honda has brought zero-emission cars to Pikes Peak before, having once run electric versions of the Civic, Fit and CR-Z. Most recently, they tried breaking the nine-minute barrier with an NSX-bodied prototype. This latest attempt feels more like a PR move than a record-breaking bid, but if any vehicle can squeeze a twelve-minute climb out of hydrogen, why not let it chase the clouds?