Toyota to Phase Out Gas-Powered Vehicles, Doubling Down on Hydrogen

[nationalize the fed]

NBC News | Paul A. Eisenstein | October 14, 2015



Toyota Motor Co. wants to virtually eliminate gasoline-powered vehicles from its fleet by 2050, and is betting that hydrogen cars, rather than electric vehicles, will be the long-term answer.

The Japanese maker recently introduced the Mirai, its first retail fuel-cell vehicle, and though sales have so far been measured in the hundreds, the target is to reach 30,000 annually by 2020, and even higher in the years beyond...

...Toyota has been openly skeptical of battery power other than limited use of nickel-metal technology in hybrids. It is grudgingly planning a new version of the Prius plug-in hybrid, primarily to meet California's demanding zero-emissions vehicle, or ZEV mandate. But the carmaker has made it clear it does not see a long-term future for plug-ins or pure battery-electric vehicles...

..."You may think 35 years is a long time," Ise said Wednesday. "But for an automaker to envision all combustion engines as gone is pretty extraordinary".
Complete article: http://www.nbcnews.com/business/autos/toyota-phase-out-gas-powered-vehicles-doubling-down-hydrogen-n444406

Toyota deserves huge praise for this. Everyone concerned with Climate Change should be celebrating. Haven't many people here in this very forum called for the end of the ICE?

A hundred year plan-Japan Launch Event for Toyota Mirai Hydrogen Electric Fuel Cell Sedan (11/2014) Taped Live in Tokyo. With translation.

^ Anyone that doubts Toyota's resolve hasn't seen that press conference. Hydrogen- the Next Big Thing™

[PoliticAverse]

1. One would hope by 2050 there's a battery that can take a car 300 miles and recharge in 5 minutes.

[CentralMass]

2. How much is it going cost to for the hydrogen ? They are giving it away for now.

The cost model is "not there". Electric vehicle are more efficient and fossil fuel Continues to be less expensive then hydign.

[nationalize the fed]

3. between $5-13 per kilogram now

but this price, unlike oil and gas, will come down over time.

It takes about 51 kWh to make 1 kilogram of H2 with an electrolyzer running at ~60% efficiency. And a kilo of H2 is = to 2 gallons of gas- 1 Kg of H2 will take you almost 70 miles in a hydrogen car vs. 30-40 in a ICE.

But the newest electrolyzers in France have >90% efficiency. And innovation has barely begun.

Once solar panels have paid for themselves how much does 51 kWh cost?

Electric vehicle are more efficient and fossil fuel Continues to be less expensive then hydign

Toyota makes and sells 10 MILLION vehicles per year. That's almost 200,000 per WEEK. They have billions - literally- in the bank.

Tesla will be lucky to make 50,000 cars this whole YEAR. They are losing ~300 million per quarter. They lose ~$4,000 every time they sell a $100,000 car- and those cars get tax credits. (Nothing says "liberal" more than taking tax money from the poor and middle class to subsidize a rich persons $100,000 car, no?)

Feel free to bet against Toyota.

[kristopher]

4. Try the full picture

You'd get a lot less flak if you weren't so repeatedly dishonest in the presentation of information.

[tularetom]

5. Good for them but...2050???

They'll have to branch out into the boat market if they want to sell Toyotas to customers in Miami, New York, New Orleans and other low lying areas along our coasts.

[Warpy]

6. Hydrogen could be the long term solution for rural areas

where distances are too long and infrastructure too limited for electric vehicles. It will take longer than by 2050 to make the transition, farmers try to make any motorized equipment they have last as long as possible, that stuff is expensive, and it will continue to run on gasoline or diesel until cheap conversion kits become available for old models.