Posted on 07/01/2015 2:37:08 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
Toyota has been very vocal about its lofty plans for the new Mirai.
After severing ties with Tesla in 2014, Toyota has shifted its focus toward fuel cells and away from all-electric cars.
On Wednesday, Toyota announced that the Mirai had achieved an EPA-estimated range of 312 miles. That’s the longest range of any zero-emission vehicle on the market today, including electric vehicles.
“Toyota realized in the early 90’s that electrification was key to the future of the automobile,” said Toyota’s North America CEO Jim Lentz in a statement
“Just as the Prius introduced hybrid-electric vehicles to millions of customers nearly twenty years ago, the Mirai is now poised to usher in a new era of efficient, hydrogen transportation.”
One major hurdle left for Toyota to surmount is the lack of hydrogen filling stations, which cost about $1 million each to build. According to the Department of Energy, there are only a dozen hydrogen filling stations nationwide, most of which are in California.
The 2016 Mirai is expected to come with an initial price tag of $57,500 — less than initial estimates, and keeping the car much more affordable than its electric counterparts. (Tesla’s Model S starts at $69,900).
(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...
2 years too late. Did they get that memo about fracking?
And where in the hell do they get the hydrogen?
My low emission diesel CDI will get 600 - 700 miles on a tank, depending on the mix of highway/city driving.
But it got GREAT mileage!
That's easy.
Build a few more GW Nuclear plants and crack water with electricity. Ship H2 to refueling stations.
Should make all sortsa people happy!
:^)
PS
I don’t have a problem at all with the above solution, especially if it gets us off Middle East oil and endless wars there.
Fracking just as good for said goal.
BUT, I have a feeling the average Enviro might be soiling his pants at the thought of massive numbers of Nuke plants spewing electrons to make Hydrogen gas...but it makes me feel good to think about how it will pain them
Eventually, they may be able to produce it through solar power. If you build it near the ocean, you could scale up a production plant as large as you want.
Even if we get it from a barrel of oil, and I admit to being fanciful here and posting a hypothesis, it might be a more efficient use of oil to draw hydrogen from it and selling the hydrogen as fuel and using the by-products in other productive ways.
What? Aren’t unicorn farts composed of almost pure hydrogen?
RE: And where in the hell do they get the hydrogen?
According to this site:
http://www.fuelcells.org/base.cgim?template=hydrogen_basics
In nature, hydrogen is never found on its own; it is always combined into molecules with other elements, typically oxygen and carbon. Hydrogen can be extracted from virtually any hydrogen-containing compound, including both renewable and non-renewable resources.
Hydrogen gas is similar to natural gas in that it is lighter than air, so it rises and disperses quickly. Hydrogen is non-toxic and safe to breathe. Hydrogen is also odorless, colorless, and tasteless; since it cannot be odorized like natural gas, hydrogen detection and ventilation systems are employed. Like all fuels, hydrogen is flammable and must be handled properly.
In the U.S., hydrogen is transported safely through 700 miles of pipelines, and 70 million gallons of liquid hydrogen is transported annually by truck over U.S. highways without incident. Both indoor and outdoor hydrogen refueling stations are located in several dozen states and have safely dispensed compressed hydrogen for use in passenger vehicles, buses, trucks, forklifts, and other types of vehicles.
See also here for a more technical discussion:
http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/thermo/electrol.html
...there are only a dozen hydrogen filling stations nationwide, most of which are in California.Elon Musk derided the notion of large numbers of hydrogen vehicles.
The Mirai emits water vapor, the number one global warming gas. That’s not zero emissions, that’s 100% greenhouse “pollution”, like that other plant food gas.
I sure hope they're no more than 311 miles apart!
Steam-reform Natural Gas. 95% of it is produced that way in the US.
http://energy.gov/eere/fuelcells/hydrogen-production-natural-gas-reforming
When you look at all the energy losses to make the hydrogen, along with the required equipment, it is laughable to call it zero emissions and way more expensive than gasoline if not subsidized by Tax Payers.
http://inside.mines.edu/~jjechura/EnergyTech/07_Hydrogen_from_SMR.pdf
The catch is, it isn't cheap.
Exactly.
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