Toyota Will Sell You a Hydrogen-Powered Car Next Year

The original Wired Article is available here.

All I can say it's about BLOODY TIME... 

After decades of big promises, false starts, and meager infrastructure, the first hydrogen fuel cell vehicle will go on sale in the United States next year. It’s coming from Toyota, which promises a range of 300 miles and a fill-up time of less than five minutes — once you’ve actually found a station that stocks the stuff.

The unnamed camo-clad engineering prototype that Toyota unveiled at CES looks remarkably similar to a Toyota Corolla. The automaker, which has spent the past year flogging the car in some of the hottest and coldest places on the continent, claims the emissions-free sedan will put out more than 100 kW (over 130 horsepower) and do zero to 60 in around 10 seconds.

“We aren’t trying to re-invent the wheel; just everything necessary to make them turn,” said Bob Carter, Toyota’s senior veep of U.S. auto operations. “For years, the use of hydrogen gas to power an electric vehicle has been seen by many smart people as a foolish quest. Yes, there are significant challenges. The first is building the vehicle at a reasonable price for many people. The second is doing what we can to help kick-start the construction of convenient hydrogen refueling infrastructure.”

Just how reasonable a price remains to be seen, because so far Toyota’s not saying what the car will cost, or even what it will be called. But the automaker says that, after a decade’s work, it has dramatically reduced the cost of building a fuel cell powertrain. Toyota estimates the cost of building a hydrogen fuel cell vehicle has fallen 95 percent since it built its first prototype in 2002, and according to Toyota spokeswoman Jana Hartline, Toyota will give consumers “a variety of options” when its hydrogen vehicle goes on sale. Given that the true cost of Honda’s FCX Clarity — which could only be leased, not bought — was estimated at well over $1 million, that’s a welcome reduction.

The technology’s other Achilles’ heel has long been the fueling infrastructure, or rather the lack of it. For that reason, Toyota will limit sales to California. Toyota has joined UC Irvine’s Advanced Power and Energy Program to map out where additional stations should be placed based on things like existing ownership of EVs and hybrids, population density and traffic patterns. Using that model, they say 68 stations in the San Francisco Bay Area, Silicon Valley, Los Angeles, Orange County, and San Diego would be required at initial launch.

California currently has nine public hydrogen fueling stations, mostly around Los Angeles and San Francisco. Another 19 are under development, and the California Energy Commission has allocated $29.9 million for the next round of infrastructure development. All told, California has approved $200 million in funding to build hydrogen stations throughout the state in 2015. Another 20 stations are expected in 2016, with a total of 100 statewide by 2024.

A slow roll-out, to be sure, and something that Toyota plans to address on its own, with Carter saying, “Stay tuned, because this infrastructure thing is going to happen.”