Amongst the incremental improvements seen at CES, Toyota has announced its notable and progressive intention to begin selling hydrogen powered cars starting next year. Roll-out will begin in California initially and will continue around the world, it has confirmed.
The Toyota Fuel Cell Vehicle (FCV) runs on hydrogen that, combined with oxygen, creates a chemical reaction from which electricity can be harnessed. The only by-product of this process is water, minimizing the environmental impact of using the car.
The announcement means that FCVs will be available to consumers less than 20 years after Toyota developed its first Fuel Cell Electric Vehicle (FCEV) in 1996, as part of its research into vehicles powered by alternative energy. The company sold its first Prius in Japan the following year and to-date estimates a reduction in CO2 emissions of 34 million tons (30.8 million tonnes) as a result of subsequent sales.
The FCV will use the Hybrid Synergy Drive technology that is used in the Prius, with a hydrogen fuel cell in place of the gas engine. Toyota anticipates that its FCVs will have a range of 300 miles (483 km) and that refueling will take as little as three minutes.
More information is available in the video below.
Source: Toyota
Brucy is wrong to worry about loss of water. This technology will be long obsolete before it can make a measurable dent in Earth's water supply. However, the SOURCE of the hydrogen is quite relevant. The only economical source at present is natural gas. Thus, what we have here is a heavily subsidized methane powered car, with the added problems of per-processing the methane and distribution/storage as hydrogen. It's yet another "green" government initiative that will consume more resources than it saves. Please save us from political technology.
@ Brucy I agree that the "hydrogen economy" is a bad idea but please keep your objections reality based. water falls from space every day in the form of meteors. The whole running out of water thing is fresh water and is a local problem wherever it occurs. reducing water consumption in New Orleans is not going to help Denver.
RelayerM31 hit the nail on the head with this. All these technologies are stop-gaps until we find reliable ways to produce electricity from fusion.
In the mean time, I, personally, am more than willing to spend the extra $$$ on electric vehicles, and will look into leasing this Toyota as soon as my Nissan Leaf lease is up at the end of this year.