Toyota Begin Hydrogen Fuel Cell Production

Toyota’s hydrogen fuel cell vehicle will go into production ahead of schedule, with production planned for mid-December 2014.

Sales will also begin “by the end of the year” reports the Japan Times ahead of Toyota’s original on-sale date some time in 2015, when and if it reaches these shores is not known.

No reason has been given for bringing the car forward, but it’s safe to assume Toyota’s development and testing is going smoothly so far–unusual in the alternative fuel vehicle market.Toyota Fuel Cell

Toyota first revealed its fuel-cell vehicle as the FCV-R Concept in 2012. The concept was approved for production and the car was spotted in camouflage earlier this year. During that time, the car’s specifications have changed according to the technology constraints.

Toyota confirmed with its last update that the production vehicle will use technology derived from its familiar Hybrid Synergy Drive setup–using a combination of hydrogen tanks and a regular battery pack to supply the car’s power.

                                                                                                                                                                             

Performance should be similar to that of the automaker’s Prius hybrids, with a 90 kW (120 horsepower) output and estimated 0-60 mph sprint of ten seconds.

Unlike full battery-electric vehicles, refueling shouldn’t take much longer than it would with a regular petrol or diesel vehicle–around three to five minutes. Toyota’s prototype has delivered a range of 300 miles on a full tank of hydrogen.

Pricing should be more or less as expected. Toyota quotes a figure of around 8 million Yen, or around €60k if it arrives in Europe. That puts it among the higher end of electric vehicles on sale today and sales are likely to be small as a result. Not only will the initial cost prohibit sales, the lack of a national charging network will certainly be a factor as the cost of Hydrogen re-fueling stations is still a costly exercise.

However, if Toyota’s project goes to plan, it hopes to lower the car’s price to between 3 and 5 million Yen (€35k-€45k) by 2020, as sales and production capacity allow.

 

Source- Auto blog