Honda Motor Corp. plans to sell hydrogen fuel-cell cars to the general public by the year 2018, according to a news report Friday.

Honda President Takeo Fukui announced the projected launch in an interview with the Kyodo News agency.

FCX (courtesy Honda)

"In 2018, I believe the development [of a fuel-cell car] will have been very advanced," Fukui told Kyodo in the interview in Tokyo on Dec. 25.

"It will become a real possibility to a large degree," he said, according to Kyodo. Honda, Japan's third-largest automaker, has already unveiled an FCX concept model of a fuel-cell car to be introduced in the United States and Japan in 2008.

But the next generation of cars planned for mass production will be more accessible than the pricey futuristic model, Fukui said.

Fuel-cell cars produce electricity through a chemical reaction between hydrogen and oxygen. Since the fuel-cells leave only harmless water vapour as a byproduct, they are considered a cleaner alternative to internal combustion engines using fossil fuels.

But hydrogen cars must still overcome technical challenges before they can become commonplace. Finding an effective method of storing the hydrogen is one of the current difficulties, he said, as well as producing hydrogen economically.

Japan's largest two automakers, Toyota and Nissan, have also been working on developing fuel-cell technology. Nissan announced earlier this month it plans to launch a fuel-cell vehicle in the U.S. and Japan in 2010.

With files from the Associated Press