Wall Street Journal: Extreme Testing for Hydrogen Cars
Wall Street Journal, HILARY POTKEWITZ July 27, 2016
Jackie Birdsall pushes vehicles to their limits for a living.
As a senior automotive engineer for the Toyota Mirai hydrogen fuel cell car, Ms. Birdsall, 32, and her Los Angeles-based team hit the road a few times a year for a couple of weeks of rigorous testing.
Jackie Birdsall, senior automotive engineer for the Toyota Mirai hydrogen-fuel-cell car, is responsible for testing the company’s prototype hydrogen-powered vehicles. PHOTO: JOSEPH PHILIPSON FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
Their typical destinations include California’s Death Valley, where summer temperatures routinely top 115 degrees Fahrenheit, and Yellowknife, in Canada’s Northwest Territories, where winter temperatures can hover near 20 degrees below zero.
In addition to the usual auto tests, such as speed, handling and weathering the elements, Ms. Birdsall has been subjecting the vehicle’s hydrogen cylinders to high pressure, blunt impact and open flame...snip
...Most car makers use the same extreme test sites. “There’s one hotel in Death Valley, and you’ll walk in and see a table of Germans and a table of Japanese, and we all know we’re there doing the same thing,” Ms. Birdsall says...
...Toyota released the first U.S. model of the Mirai in October 2015 in California, and Ms. Birdsall is currently working on Toyota’s next generation of fuel-cell vehicle...snip
Read More: http://www.wsj.com/articles/extreme-testing-for-hydrogen-cars-1469639681
Toyota Mirai 120° hot weather testing in Death Valley, CA
Toyota Mirai -30°C cold weather testing in Yellowknife, Canada
In Death Valley, Hydrogen is #1
