Posted on 03/23/2020 6:48:58 AM PDT by Red Badger
TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan’s Toyota Motor Corp on Monday said it would develop a heavy-duty fuel-cell truck with its subsidiary, Hino Motor Co, as it sees hydrogen technology as a zero-emissions alternative to battery power for large commercial vehicles.
In a statement, Toyota said the truck, based on Hino’s Profia model, would be equipped with two fuel cell stacks developed for the next model of its Mirai fuel cell sedan. It would have a traveling range of 600 kilometers (373 miles).
Toyota has long touted fuel cell vehicles as the ultimate “green car”, and sees the technology as more efficient than battery electric cars, embraced by many rivals as a zero-emissions alternative to gasoline vehicles.
If this technology really works it would be game changer and crush electric cars as competition....
It’s a proven technology, just expensive and not widely available in all countries for refills.................
Toyota has long touted fuel cell vehicles as the ultimate “green car”, and sees the technology as more efficient than battery electric cars, embraced by many rivals as a zero-emissions alternative to gasoline vehicles.
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Yep. They’ve been saying that for many years, yet I don’t see much for sale in that category.
I think it will work in Japan because its relatively small size makes it viable to have hydrogen refueling stations built at economically practical cost.
And if it’s truly economical, outfits like UPS, FedEx, and local transit who fuel at their hubs will adopt it.
True, but a lot things start out expensive until they prove they work and get commercially acceptable...
For a number of reasons I’ve never been completely sold on battery powered cars....
If the Environmental nuts were true to the cause they would be against lithium batteries especially when they see how it’s mined...in 5-10 years or at some point in time these batteries will reach end of life, how will they be disposed of or can they be recycled...
It will crush the petrol and electric car industry. Must be phased in, to avoid devastating plant closures and job losses, all at once.
Hydrogen will replace them all, in time.
Toyota has long touted fuel cell vehicles as the ultimate “green car”, and sees the technology as more efficient than battery electric cars, embraced by many rivals as a zero-emissions alternative to gasoline vehicles.
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I don’t see how it’s more efficient when energy is required to make hydrogen and then it needs to be transported to a filling station.
Electricity is much easier to transport and a filing station can be placed in a driver’s home or anywhere else that electricity is available.
Hydrogen is the direction for long haul and vehicles outside city limits/rural areas. Hydrogen was tested in California but again it was too little and the infrastructure costs will be more but I like H-power better than the e-cars especially to retrofit petroleum engines to h-power.
Wait, then we could use water for fuel. The greenies will not like that...
....energy is required to make hydrogen and then it needs to be transported to a filling station.
We’ll run out of water when they burn up the hydrogen!!!!!!!....................oh, wait.................
Yes, they can be recycled......................
UPS runs quite a few CNGs already. Their local hub here is located very close to the massive Panhandle Eastern pipeline that brings nat gas up from Texas.
I always look to fleets to understand where the true low cost approach lies, unless they are being subsidized by govt to take another approach.
Local transit here purchased a fleet of electric buses last year, but the poor performance (short range) in cold weather led them to switch the next fleet order back to diesels. And it was a warmer than average winter.
The technology does work, was used extensively in the two thousands, but suffers from the fact that you cannot efficiently condense hydrogen denser than a liquid.
To give a fuel cell vehicle a three hundred mile range with liquid hydrogen the fuel tank has to be about the size of a sedan trunk.
You can make hydrogen more dense by forming natural gas, but now you also need a stripper (basically a mini refinery) to remove the hydrogen again for use by the fuel cell)
Electric vehicles are the cleanest on the road but dirtiest when you consider the total pollution form manufacturing to disposal. What is the total solution form this technology?
Before the United States sent its plastics industry to China, we vented eighty percent of the hydrogen needed to replace gasoline to run our vehicles into the atmosphere as waste.
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