Toyota Mirai Hydrogen FCV Gets Official Introduction By CEO

Ahead of its official launch at the Los Angeles Auto Show, CEO Akio Toyoda has officially introducedthe Toyota Mirai hydrogen fuel cell vehicle as the car that will change the way we think about transportation. Toyota has bet big on hydrogen over electric vehicles; is the Mirai the car that can change the way we think about green transportation?

With 300 miles of driving range on a full tank of hydrogen fuel, the Toyota Mirai will purportedly offer all the advantages of electric cars, like instant torque and quiet driving, without the limited range or long recharge times. Just how green turning natural gas or other fossil fuels into compressed hydrogen remains a subject of debate, but in an ideal world hydrogen could be produced en masse from a wide variety of renewable sources, whether that be solar power or decaying garbage.

In Japanese, Mirai means “future”, which is what Toyota thinks hydrogen fuel represents. This is every bit as big as a gambit as Nissan’s focus on electric vehicles. The Toyota Mirai will wear rally colors in a bid to prove its reliable and fun to drive, and Toyota is planning to fund a new hydrogen highway in the Northeast to facilitate sales outside of SoCal. Toyota will work with Air Liqude to build the first stations in five Northeast states, forming the basis for a network that it hopes will stretch up and down the East Coast.

The first Toyota Mirai FCVs are slated to go into production next month, though the Hyundai Tuscon Fuel Cell has been available for lease since late summer. On the other hand, the Honda FCV has been delayed until 2016 for unspecified reasons. While that might seem to give Toyota the upper hand, Toyota is facing what some analysts call the “first-mover disadvantage” due to the lack of supporting infrastructure and the high cost of their cars.

Is the world ready for Toyota’s vision of a zero-emissions future? Is hydrogen ready for the world? We’ll find out in 2015.

Toyota Launches EV Sub Brand…In China

California Toyota is discontinuing its EV program in favor of hydrogen fuel cells, but in China Toyota is launching the Leahead brand devoted to cheap electric cars. CarNewsChina reports that when it launches next year, the Leahead brand will hawk cheap electric cars to young buyers (just as we predicted earlier this year).

Toyota currently has two joint-partnerships in China, one with FAW and the other with Ghuangzhou, with Leahead being formered with the latter company. Toyota first hinted at the new brand last year at the Shanghai Auto Show with an unnamed concept car, and the Leahead brand will supposedly launch with an electric version of the Corolla EX in 2015. There are no other details of the brand except that its name is supposed to mean “Leap Ahead” in a nod to its electric roots.

When I hear “Leap Ahead” in reference to anything from China though, I think of Chairman Mao’s disastrous “Great Leap Forward” program wherein millions if people died through flawed national policies. Toyota’s new electric car brand is far more benign than that, but maybe not the name I would have gone with. The idea of a youth-oriented EV brand specifically for China is a good idea though, and perhaps Toyota should consider a similar revamp of Scion here in the US.

It seems Toyota hasn’t given up on EVs entirely, as long as there are government incentives on hand to encourage EV sales. With China predicted to be the biggest EV market in the world in just five years, investing in EVs is probably the right move…but what about that bullishness on the superiority of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles? Outside of Toyota’s home market, hydrogen fuel cell vehicles have little support, and without that support a hydrogen fuel economy seems like little more than a dream.

Ford and Toyota to collaborate on new rear-wheel drive hybrid system for light trucks, SUVs; partnering also on telematics standards and technologies

Ford and Toyota are collaborating as equal partners on the development of an advanced new hybrid system for light trucks and SUVs. The two companies signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on the product development collaboration, with the formal agreement expected by next year.

Ford and Toyota also agreed to work together on enablers to complement each company’s existing telematics platform standards, helping bring more Internet-based services and useful information to consumers globally.

Both companies have been working independently on their own future-generation rear-wheel drive hybrid systems. Ford and Toyota believe that their collaboration will allow them to bring these hybrid technologies to customers sooner and more affordably than either company could have accomplished alone.

Under the MOU agreement, the two companies will bring the best of their independently developed hybrid powertrain technology and knowledge to a new co-developed hybrid system, which will be used in rear-wheel-drive light trucks arriving later this decade.

This rear-wheel-drive hybrid system will be based on an all-new architecture. While the rear-wheel-drive hybrid system will share significant common technology and components, Ford and Toyota will individually integrate the system into their own vehicles. Each company also will determine the calibration and performance dynamics characteristics of their respective light pickups and SUVs.

By working together, we will be able to serve our customers with the very best affordable, advanced powertrains, delivering even better fuel economy. This is the kind of collaborative effort that is required to address the big global challenges of energy independence and environmental sustainability.

—Ford President and CEO Alan Mulally

Toyota is extremely proud to join Ford in developing a hybrid system for pickup trucks and SUVs. Not only is this tie-up clearly one aimed at making automobiles ever better, it should also become an important building block for future mobility in the U.S. By building a global, long-term relationship with Ford, our desire is to be able to continue to provide people in America automobiles that exceed their expectations.

—Toyota President Akio Toyoda

In addition, as telematics plays an increasingly more important role in the in-car experience, both companies have agreed to collaborate on standards and technologies needed to enable a safer, more secure and more convenient in-car experience for next-generation telematics systems. The telematics collaboration relates only to standards and technologies, and each company will continue to separately develop their own in-vehicle products and features.

Source: Green Car Congress

Tesla Thanks Toyota CEO with a 2011 Roadster Sport 2.5

Elon Musk Shows Akio Toyoda The Intricacies of the Tesla Roadster 2.5 EV








To commemorate tomorrow’s official opening of Tesla’s first Japanese store and as a small thank you to Toyoda for choosing Tesla as drivetrain partners for Toyota’s new electric car, Musk presented Akio Toyoda with a Radiant Red 2011 Tesla Roadster Sport 2.5.

Toyota's new electric vehicles will be on display at this year's Los Angeles Auto Show. Since Toyota announced the revised and renewed Toyota RAV 4 EV, there has been keen interest and consumers are craving more information, especially since Tesla is helping with the drivetrain. Exciting times are ahead for those of us interested in alternate energy vehicles.