The 2025 Honda CR-V Fuel Cell is now available to lease…if you live in California.
This week, Honda published leasing options for its first hydrogen-powered vehicle since the Clarity went out of production in August 2021. Today, the automaker decided to build a fuel cell vehicle around its most popular SUV offering.
There is a catch, of course, with the usual caveat making its way in: The 2025 Honda CR-V e:FCEV is only available in California. Folks will be able to lease it there as of July 9 through one of a dozen dealers in the state. With $2,989 paid at signing, you can lease a CR-V Fuel Cell for $489 a month on a two-year deal with 30,000 miles allowed per year.
If you’re looking to use the car a bit longer, three- and six-year lease terms are also available. Each curtails the annual mileage allowance to 12,000 miles (what a person drives in a given year, basically), as well as adjusts the monthly price. The three-year term costs $2,959 at signing and $459 a month, but Honda will also throw in $15,000 worth of hydrogen fuel credits. Jumping onto a six-year lease means you’ll fork over $2,889 at signing, but only pay $389 per month and get $30,000 worth of credits.
Apart from leasing the vehicle in California, hydrogen infrastructure limits where you can feasibly live with the CR-V e:FCEV. There are 54 “light duty” stations available to passenger cars in the state, according to the California Energy Commission. The vast majority of those stations, as you’d expect, are around Los Angeles and the Inland Empire, as well as the Bay Area around San Francisco, with a few others scattered throughout the state.
More on the CR-V e:FCEV
Honda’s new CR-V e:FCEV uses a new-generation fuel cell as well as a 17.7-kWh battery pack. The fuel cell itself lives under the hood where the engine would normally be, while the battery pack sits under the front occupants and the hydrogen tanks sit under the back seats and rear cargo floor.
Honda says the e:FCEV manages 174 horsepower and 229 lb-ft of torque from its electric motor. While that’s certainly not sports car level performance, it should at least be able to get out of its own way. EPA ratings come in at 57 MPGe combined, while actual driving range works out to about 270 miles. Because it has a decent-sized battery and a charging port, however, it is still a plug-in hybrid. On that basis, you could drive the CR-V e:FCEV up to 29 miles strictly on electricity.
Every hydrogen-powered model is based on the CR-V Touring trim, so you get standard features like a digital gauge cluster, 9.0-inch infotainment screen, heated front seats and a 12-speaker Bose stereo system. The actual fuel cell system is built in Brownstown, Michigan as part of a tie-up with General Motors, while the final assembly takes place at Honda’s Marysville, Ohio plant.
