Technology:
Toyota will put its fuel cell
vehicles on the consumer market in this December earlier than scheduled because
the production system is ready now. The company will start the production in
December. Named Mirai (the future), it is a four-seater sedan and capable of traveling
about 650 km with a tankful liquefied hydrogen. It takes only three minutes to fill it up. Mirais
will mostly go to public offices in the initial stage, but about 20 units will
be set aside for the consumer market every month. It is priced at 7 million yen,
but a shopper can buy one for 5 million yen because he can get a subsidiary
from the government.
The annual production is set at
700 units at this moment, but the company plans to increase the production in
light of the spread of hydrogen station. Currently, Japan has about 30
hydrogen stations mainly in the four metropolitan areas of Tokyo, Nagoya, Osaka,
and Fukuoka, but the government plan to increase the number of hydrogen
stations to 100 in 2015. The company has reportedly received an order for nearly
1,000 units as against the annual production of 700 units. It plans to
introduce the fuel cell vehicle in Europe and the United States in the summer
of 2015.
Toyota's Mirai is coming soon.
Introducton to Toyot's fuel cell vehicle
