Toyota Hydrogen Fuel Cell will launch in 2015: OFFICIAL

The Toyota FCV (pictured) previews Toyota’s 2015 production FCEV

Toyota took the lead with hybrid technology a decade ago, and that’s gone from an expensive punt on new technology to a mainstay of Toyota production, with approaching 15 per cent of Toyotas now sold offering some degree of hybrid technology. Now, Toyota is about to take another expensive punt on new technology, this time with the launch of a hydrogen fuel cell car in Japan, the USA and Europe in 2015. The numbers won’t be huge, but they will be significant.

And it seems that Toyota are prepared the bite the bullet to get hydrogen fuel cell cars accepted by the motoring public and, despite initial estimates that a Toyota FCEV would cost in the region of £100k, it seems Toyota are planning to pitch the price in competition with current BEV cars.

Based on the Toyota FCV Concept we saw just a few months ago at the Tokyo Motor Show, the new Toyota FCEV will have a range of around 435 miles and could cost below £40k as Toyota work to develop a public appetite for hydrogen-powered cars.

But it will be an expensive road for Toyota, because even though they have cut the costs of a fuel cell by as much as 70 per cent from a few years ago, much of the price Toyota look set to charge will be eaten up just by the cost of the hydrogen fuel cell.

But costs will reduce over time, and if this foray in to a real-world production FCEV sees a proper hydrogen refuelling infrastructure start to develop, we could see hydrogen-powered cars become the norm in the next decade, relegating BEVs to use as local delivery vehicles and taxis.

By Cars UK