A Fuel cell vehicle or FC vehicle (FCV) is any vehicle that uses a fuel cell to produce its on-board motive power. Fuel cells on board the FC hydrogen vehicles create electricity to power an electric motor using hydrogen fuel and oxygen from the air. A fuel cell process produces only water and heat.

The first ever "road worthy" (excepting the Allis-Chalmers Fuel-Cell Tractor) fuel cell vehicle was produced by General Motors in 1966. Fuel cell efficiency is limited because "the energy required to isolate hydrogen from natural compounds (water, natural gas, biomass), package the light gas by compression or liquefaction, transfer the energy carrier to the user, plus the energy lost when it is converted to useful electricity with fuel cells, leaves around 25% for practical use...For comparison, the 'wind-to-wheel' efficiency is at least three times greater for electric cars than for hydrogen fuel cell vehicles." However, the Honda FCX Clarity has an average fuel effiency of 72 miles (116 kilometers) per kilogram of hydrogen, a 25% increase from a model created two years earlier.

The efficiency of the vehicle's engine does not take into account the efficiency at which hydrogen is produced, stored, and transported today. Fuel cell vehicles running on compressed hydrogen may have a power-plant-to-wheel efficiency of 22% if the hydrogen is stored as high-pressure gas, and 17% if it is stored as liquid hydrogen. In addition to the production losses, some of the electricity used for hydrogen production, comes from thermal power, which only has an efficiency of 33% to 48% resulting in emission of carbon dioxide.

Fuel cell vehicle is a classification in FC Hydrogen codes and standards and fuel cell codes and standards other main standards are Stationary fuel cell applications and Portable fuel cell applications.

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