FEATURES
Toyota FCV goes on to market on Dec. 15
Toyota Motor which had some time ago announced that fuel cell vehicles (FCV) would go on sale in 2014 began marketing them in Japan on December 15, putting Japan ahead of the rest of the world.
The price of this vehicle, which has been named MIRAI (the Future), comes to 7.236 million JPY including tax. It is expected that 400 of these vehicles will be sold in 2015. Already orders for about 200 vehicles have come in from the central government, local governments, and companies. Cars using hydrogen as their fuel are finally going onto the general market, and are now appearing right before our very eyes.
The FCV “MIRAI” is a sedan type, seating 4. The FC stack and hydrogen tanks are installed under the floor. In order to secure space in the cabin, 2 FRP tanks (type 4, fiberglass reinforced plastic, composite cylinders with carbon fiber wrapped around the resin liner) are carried, divided into 2 types, one with an interior volume of 60 liters and the other of 62.4 liters. The 2 tanks are filled with hydrogen simultaneously. With one filling of hydrogen, the car can run the same distance as a gasoline car of the same class, about 650km. On November 14 Iwatani announced the price of the hydrogen sold at the liquid hydrogen filling station. “The price of the hydrogen fuel needed to run 1km will be 10.3 JPY,” noted as spokesperson. An approximate calculation shows that one filling would cost about 5,500 JPY plus the 8% sales tax.
In the car a specialized navigation system is installed which has a function enabling it to show the location of the nearest hydrogen station and its operational status in real time. Arrangements have been made so that even when the FCVs are introduced there will be nothing to get in the way of their operation.
The cars will be sold at the Toyota Motor’s sales agencies located in 4 major municipal areas where hydrogen stations are planned to be installed. These are the Tokyo, and Kansai municipal areas along with Aichi Prefecture including Nagoya and Fukuoka. The area where the cars will be sold will expand according to how the hydrogen stations are installed.
At the meeting when the price was announced Executive Vice President Mitsuhisa Kato of Toyota Motor commented, “By using the pressure raising system of hybrid cars, we could achieve a compact FC system and high performance, enabling a low cost.” He went on to say, “In terms of safety too, we are guaranteeing the same level as that of a gasoline powered car.”
At the meeting, an actual car was revealed. The way the external appearance of the car was designed somehow made it reminiscent of the hybrid car put out by Toyota Motor called “SAI.” Regarding the design of the car body Kato noted, “There was the idea of advanced design suitable to the name of the car MIRAI, which means future. Certainly we didn’t want to make it look like something eccentric. We made it a stylish design which would be appealing to anyone.”
The car presented at the meeting was produced at their Motomachi plant located in the city of Toyota in Aichi Prefecture. 700 cars are planned to be completed by the end of 2015. Although they are to commercialize the car, “We really should build them one by one.” Even if orders are placed from now on, delivery will be after the middle of 2015.
The inspection and maintenance network will be set up at the sales agencies. Each agency does not have a simple type hydrogen filling unit to fill the amount of hydrogen required for inspection and the obligatory regular inspection. Filling will rather be done at a nearby hydrogen filling station.
After being sold first in Japan, plans call for “MIRAI” to be put onto the US market around the summer of 2015. The company is aiming at selling over 3,000 cars in the US by the end of 2017 and in Europe 50-100 cars a year by 2016. Regarding the target for sales in Japan from 2016 onward, Kato noted, “We’re aiming at a price range around that of the current hybrid car by around 2025.” He did not go so far as to mention a specific number of cars but he did say, “We’ll be examining the medium to long term, looking at how hydrogen stations are being set up, as well as at the policy regarding the subsidiary for purchasing cars and the trends in demand,.” As for technology development, improvements will continue to be made on the FC system which accounts for about 1/3 of the cost of the car. The company has positioned itself to work toward reducing the price of the car.
As for the spreading in use of the FCVs in the future, what is an issue is the progress made in setting up hydrogen stations. The number of stations decided to be set up by 2014 come to 40, including mobile stations. While waiting for a quick installation of the infrastructure, “Toyota Motor itself is not directly involved in the setting up of this infrastructure,” stated Kato firmly. “At the time when it is introduced, however, we’ll be involved in operation through our group companies,” stated Kato.
19 Dec. 2014
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