Toyota Aiming For Modest Annual Sales Of Fuel Cell Cars

TTAC Staff
by TTAC Staff

Toyota believes fuel cells are the future, becoming a competitive technology up against other zero-emission compliance tech by 2030 at the latest. In fact, the automaker plans to hedge their bets in the near future by setting an annual sales goal of 5,000 to 10,000 fuel-cell powered machines beginning in 2015.

Part of this push is due to falling costs in fuel cell technology; when the above-pictured FCV enters showrooms in early 2015, just over half the $99,000 price tag will come from its smaller fuel cell, down from just over $1 million in 2007 when the tech debuted in the first of many concepts. Component sharing also helps to maintain a lower cost of entry, though Toyota says the FCV won’t be underpinned by the Prius due to differing structures between the two.

The automaker hopes sales of the FCV and other future fuel cell vehicles will rise to tens of thousands of units by the start of the 2020s, no doubt helped by a push to reduce costs through R&D to one-fifth of what a fuel cell costs to make at this point in time.

The FCV won’t be alone in this march toward progress; Honda plans to deliver a successor the FCX Clarity in the same year as the former’s debut, while Hyundai will lease 1,000 Tucsons fitted with fuel cells worldwide in 2014.

TTAC Staff
TTAC Staff

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  • Probert Probert on Dec 12, 2013

    If that beauty doesn't sell the idea, nothing will.

  • APaGttH APaGttH on Dec 12, 2013

    The comments here are pretty amazing, in basically the first 10 we've devolved into global warming is not real and Detroit is doomed because Toyota has figured out fuel cells.

  • Dan R Dan R on Dec 12, 2013

    Looks like Flexor, Supreme Ruler of the Glaxxon Galaxy. Is this really the future?

  • Brandloyalty Brandloyalty on Dec 12, 2013

    Producing hydrogen from coal is only remotely "clean" if you can store the CO2. No economically viable means of carbon sequestration will be available for many years,if ever. Bigtruckseriesreview raises several standard climate change denial/bogus arguments. Those and more (total of 174) can be cross-checked here: http://www.skepticalscience.com/argument.php Mass production of fuel cell cars, as posters have said, is dependent on a network of refueling stations. Such a network for just one country will cost billions of dollars, and will only be done if they're paid for out of taxes. Industry is NOT going to pay for them. The insurance industry has yet to chime in on insuring fuel cell cars, let alone parking for them in buildings with adjacent or underground parking. Terrorists are going to love this stuff. As the lightest molecule, hydrogen is difficult to contain and rapidly leaks out of everywhere you try to store it. These losses severely reduce the utility of the stuff.

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