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The car is now officially announced and introduced as rumored: Mirai.
Toyota Fuel Cell Sedan Now Named (w/video)
I guess Mirai could become the Toyota sub-brand for all their FCEVs, much like Prius for hybrids.
Meanwhile, other former FC proponents such as Honda, Daimler and GM are sitting on the sidelines (Honda just postponed their car launch to 2016: Honda delays hydrogen fuel cell sedan, debuts new concept - Autoblog ) and let Toyota spend a lot of money.
Building that infrastructure will take a long time and cost a lot, Toyota will probably eat up most losses as a first-mover. I can only see hydrogen cars working in some areas with heavy subsidies (Japan...) or in closed, smaller regions (Iceland...) for now.
Long-term, who knows. A lot depends on better ways to create and store hydrogen locally (and thus bring down station costs), research is ongoing:
Honda making hydrogen from solar power in UK
Long-term, who knows. A lot depends on better ways to create and store hydrogen locally (and thus bring down station costs), research is ongoing:
Honda making hydrogen from solar power in UK
It should be noted that this car will be available in non-CA markets. I wonder why they only went with a 300 mile range? If these had a 500 mile, or even 1000 mile range, it takes SO much pressure off of the refueling infrastructure. I assume, could be wrong, that adding fuel capacity adds very little cost per unit. They could also rub it in the faces of BEVs if they had that kind of range.
Unfortunately, turning electricity into H2 and then back in a fuel cell wastes 75% of the energy. They cycle loss in batteries is only about 15%. Hydrogen just doesn't make any sense.
Unfortunately, turning electricity into H2 and then back in a fuel cell wastes 75% of the energy. They cycle loss in batteries is only about 15%. Hydrogen just doesn't make any sense.
Unfortunately, turning electricity into H2 and then back in a fuel cell wastes 75% of the energy. They cycle loss in batteries is only about 15%. Hydrogen just doesn't make any sense.
I looked it up...the literal English translation of "Mirai" is "lead balloon"...:wink:
The ones here in Norway can refill 5 cars an hour (supposedly): http://www.scandinavianhydrogen.org/sites/default/files/121109wp7_3rd_reporting_public.pdfHas anyone yet built an H2 fueling station that can manage more than one car an hour?
With fuel cell technology, it's great for use in satellites and for remote critical installations - say a cell phone tower on a distant mountain top. But for broad public transportation needs, it's downright silly and a waste of time and money.
I am looking forward to see FCVs added to museums, next to other outdated technology like said steam locomotives, and soon - ICE cars as well. And yes, I would even like to see one up close. I don't need to try one, as I expect it to work like any other electric car with a range extender - for that is what it basically is. They could just extract the fuel cell, put it on display somewhere as a science experiment demonstration.
At this point FCVs aren't yet silly. FCV will only be silly with cheap batteries. It's actually not just that cheap batteries would mean much cheaper BEVs, it's because cheap batteries would mean cheap integration of renewables. If you can both go crazy with PV and move transportation of people and light goods to BEV, you have a real possibility of using much easier biofuels and synthetic fuels to handle the remaining transportation.