Toyota To Take On Tesla With Hydrogen Fuel Cell Car In 2015
While Tesla is making waves with its all-electric fleet of cars, Toyota is exploring a non-fossil fuel alternative vehicle as well. The company announced that it will release a hydrogen fuel cell sedan next year, coming to Japan by April and in the U.S. and Europe sometime next summer.
Why hydrogen? “Hydrogen is a particularly promising alternative fuel since it can be produced using a wide variety of primary energy sources, including solar and wind power,” reads a Toyota press release. “When compressed, it has a higher energy density than batteries and is easier to store and transport.”
Toyota has been working with fuel cell technology since 2002, when it developed its “FC Stack” that used high-pressure hydrogen tanks and a chemical reaction between hydrogen and oxygen to generate power.
The company says it’s now significantly improved that technology, and the new version offers performance similar to a gas-powered car. It has a range of 700 km (approximately 435 miles) and can be refueled in about three minutes. More importantly, it exhausts only water vapor.
There’s no word on U.S. pricing, but Toyota’s FCV car will cost 7 million yen (about $68,810 USD) when it debuts.
Why hydrogen? “Hydrogen is a particularly promising alternative fuel since it can be produced using a wide variety of primary energy sources, including solar and wind power,” reads a Toyota press release. “When compressed, it has a higher energy density than batteries and is easier to store and transport.”
Toyota has been working with fuel cell technology since 2002, when it developed its “FC Stack” that used high-pressure hydrogen tanks and a chemical reaction between hydrogen and oxygen to generate power.
The company says it’s now significantly improved that technology, and the new version offers performance similar to a gas-powered car. It has a range of 700 km (approximately 435 miles) and can be refueled in about three minutes. More importantly, it exhausts only water vapor.
There’s no word on U.S. pricing, but Toyota’s FCV car will cost 7 million yen (about $68,810 USD) when it debuts.
