Is Toyota's new hydrogen car about to 'change society'?

Date de publication : 10 sept. 2014 12:49:36

NAGOYA -- Increasingly stringent environmental regulations in major markets are spurring automakers to develop a new generation of green cars. Toyota Motor, which led the way in popularizing hybrids, is now positioning itself as the company that will bring hydrogen-fueled, zero-carbon-emission vehicles into the mainstream.

Cars powered by that colorless, odorless gas are not exactly new. What is new is the not-quite-so-astronomical price tag of a model the Japanese company plans to release sometime in the current fiscal year through next March. Toyota's car will go for about 7 million yen ($67,500); a decade ago, hydrogen fuel cell vehicles were estimated to cost around 100 million yen.

"We have finally developed a car that can change society," Toyota Chairman Takeshi Uchiyamada told Shinzo Abe in mid-July, when the prime minister visited a hydrogen fueling station in the western city of Kitakyushu.

Abe's growth strategy calls for making hydrogen a major energy source for the country. Large quantities of the gas are produced here as a byproduct at steel and chemical plants.

"Instead of importing crude oil, we can invest to develop and expand hydrogen supply infrastructure," Uchiyamada suggested to Abe, branding the new car "a solution to energy problems."

Abe drove Toyota's prototype himself for about two minutes. He also examined a mechanism in the car's rear section that disposes of water, which is produced as hydrogen generates electricity. "We will make an all-out effort to promote" fuel cell cars, the prime minister pledged. "We will offer at least 2 million yen (in subsidies) for each unit."

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Sources: http://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Trends/Is-Toyota-s-new-hydrogen-car-about-to-change-society

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