Ecomento.com: Toyota forsakes electric cars in favour of hydrogen after studying Tesla
Toyota has given up on long-range battery-electric vehicles and will focus its efforts on hydrogen fuel cell technology in the future.
In an interview with Fortune Magazine, Toyota North America CEO Jim Lentz said that while electric vehicles have a place as a ‘last mile’ solution, longer journeys would have to be undertaken in hybrid and plug-in hybrid vehicles, and eventually by hydrogen fuel cell cars.
Lentz’s comments are the latest in a divergent segment of the automotive industry, where, on one hand, automakers such as Tesla are enjoying success by selling electric cars with ever-larger batteries at the same time that public charging infrastructure is quickly developing. Others, such as Hyundai, Honda, and Toyota, believe that the weight and cost of these batteries is too much of a compromise, and are focusing on hydrogen technology.
Lentz suggested that the overall cost of a hydrogen fuel cell vehicle is ‘substantially less’ than a battery-electric vehicle. He also said that while battery-electric vehicles are superbly efficient in operation, hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles were more efficient ‘well-to-wheel’.
Given that it takes significant energy to isolate hydrogen and more still to compress it – not to mention the transportation logistics needed to get the liquid to fuelling stations – many experts will take exception to Lentz’s claims. The car’s, however, will be perfectly clean at point-of-use.
“It’s an on-demand electric vehicle,” Lentz said. “So rather than having to have a large battery onboard that you have to charge – and takes quite a while to charge – you basically use hydrogen to produce electricity and water vapour.”
Toyota will bring its new generation fuel cell car to California this year, boasting a 300-mile range and a refuelling time of around five minutes. It’s this refuelling that will be Toyota biggest hurdle, however. There are currently just nine public stations in California, which each costing over one million dollars to build and install.
Lentz said that his company has calculated that 68 stations would be required to support 10,000 fuel cell owners in the state, and that 50 would be operational by the end of 2016. On-site hydrogen generation is the goal for Toyota, but before then the company will have to make electrolysis cost effective. Currently the hydrogen comes from compressed natural gas.
While nothing is concrete, Lentz also gave a indication of how much Toyota’s hydrogen fuel cell car would cost to run, giving a ball-park figure of $30 to fill up.
Lentz’s comments come not long after an agreement with Tesla concluded. The Californian automaker supplied the electrical hardwarefor 2,600 zero emission examples of the RAV4, helping Toyota satisfy the Sunshine State’s emissions regulations. It isn’t known whether Toyota’s decision to shun long-range battery-electric vehicles was influenced from studying Tesla.
“If you look at the joint venture we had with Tesla, it was really learning about a much smaller entrepreneurial company in the auto business, and to see what we come learn about being fast to market. I think it worked for them – they learned a lot of our quality control systems and other things.”
Toyota has given up on long-range battery-electric vehicles and will focus its efforts on hydrogen fuel cell technology in the future.
In an interview with Fortune Magazine, Toyota North America CEO Jim Lentz said that while electric vehicles have a place as a ‘last mile’ solution, longer journeys would have to be undertaken in hybrid and plug-in hybrid vehicles, and eventually by hydrogen fuel cell cars.
Lentz’s comments are the latest in a divergent segment of the automotive industry, where, on one hand, automakers such as Tesla are enjoying success by selling electric cars with ever-larger batteries at the same time that public charging infrastructure is quickly developing. Others, such as Hyundai, Honda, and Toyota, believe that the weight and cost of these batteries is too much of a compromise, and are focusing on hydrogen technology.
Lentz suggested that the overall cost of a hydrogen fuel cell vehicle is ‘substantially less’ than a battery-electric vehicle. He also said that while battery-electric vehicles are superbly efficient in operation, hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles were more efficient ‘well-to-wheel’.
Given that it takes significant energy to isolate hydrogen and more still to compress it – not to mention the transportation logistics needed to get the liquid to fuelling stations – many experts will take exception to Lentz’s claims. The car’s, however, will be perfectly clean at point-of-use.
“It’s an on-demand electric vehicle,” Lentz said. “So rather than having to have a large battery onboard that you have to charge – and takes quite a while to charge – you basically use hydrogen to produce electricity and water vapour.”
Toyota will bring its new generation fuel cell car to California this year, boasting a 300-mile range and a refuelling time of around five minutes. It’s this refuelling that will be Toyota biggest hurdle, however. There are currently just nine public stations in California, which each costing over one million dollars to build and install.
Lentz said that his company has calculated that 68 stations would be required to support 10,000 fuel cell owners in the state, and that 50 would be operational by the end of 2016. On-site hydrogen generation is the goal for Toyota, but before then the company will have to make electrolysis cost effective. Currently the hydrogen comes from compressed natural gas.
While nothing is concrete, Lentz also gave a indication of how much Toyota’s hydrogen fuel cell car would cost to run, giving a ball-park figure of $30 to fill up.
Lentz’s comments come not long after an agreement with Tesla concluded. The Californian automaker supplied the electrical hardwarefor 2,600 zero emission examples of the RAV4, helping Toyota satisfy the Sunshine State’s emissions regulations. It isn’t known whether Toyota’s decision to shun long-range battery-electric vehicles was influenced from studying Tesla.
“If you look at the joint venture we had with Tesla, it was really learning about a much smaller entrepreneurial company in the auto business, and to see what we come learn about being fast to market. I think it worked for them – they learned a lot of our quality control systems and other things.”
