Toyota Trucks “Double Down” on Hydrogen Future

Toyota’s latest Project Portal fuel cell heavy truck emphasizes Toyota’s belief in a hydrogen future, and a step forward for zero emissions transport of goods. Range, comfort, and capability have all been increased in this latest version Toyota’s environmentally sustainable trucking program– and this one’s getting a real world test here in the US!

Check out Toyota’s official press release, below, then let us know what you think of Toyota’s latest push for a slice of the over-the-road trucking market in the comments section at the bottom of the page.

Toyota Doubles-Down on Zero Emissions Heavy-duty Trucks

Traverse City — Toyota today unveiled the second iteration of its hydrogen fuel cell electric Class 8 truck before a crowd of media and industry leaders during the Center for Automotive Research (CAR) Management Briefing Seminars in Northern Michigan.
The new truck, known internally as “Beta,” expands on the capabilities of Toyota’s first Project Portal test vehicle by increasing the estimated range to more than 300 miles per fill. The truck also enhances versatility and maneuverability with the addition of a sleeper cab and a unique fuel cabinet combination that further increases cab space without increasing wheelbase.
Since it first began operation in April 2017, the Project Portal “Alpha” truck has logged nearly 10,000 miles of testing and real-world drayage operations in and around the Ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles while emitting nothing but water vapor. The Beta vehicle will begin drayage operations in the fall, increasing the Ports’ zero emission trucking capacity and further reducing the environmental impact of drayage operations.



Lessons Learned: Increased Range, Improved Process

Project Portal 2.0 builds on the lessons learned from the launch of the Alpha vehicle in 2017. The first heavy-duty truck was the result of a true skunkworks effort within Toyota that moved from initial concept to a fully-capable drayage truck driving silently out of a Michigan garage in just over a year. Engineers and technicians worked long hours to reconfigure the wire harnesses, electronics and other components of two off-the-lot Mirai fuel cell electric cars to create one of the world’s first OEM-built zero-emission heavy trucks.
The results of their work continue to impress. With a gross combined weight capacity of 80,000 lbs. and a driving range of more than 200 miles per fill, the 670-plus horsepower Alpha truck produces 1325 pound-feet of torque from two Mirai fuel cell stacks and a 12kWh battery. Project Portal Beta maintains these torque and horsepower numbers while also extending the range of the vehicle and pushing forward on other key performance metrics.
“By evaluating the first truck in our test facilities and on the actual roads in the LA area, we made a list of improvements for the Beta truck build process and performance enhancements,” said Andrew Lund, chief engineer for the project. He continued, “We needed to move beyond a proof of concept, which the first truck accomplished, to something that is not only better than the original but is also more commercially viable.”



A Step Toward the Future, Reflections From the Past

The story of Project Portal’s inception and evolution follows the long tradition of Toyota innovation that dates to the company’s entry into the automotive space. The first Toyota (then Toyoda) sedan, the A1, was produced in much the same manner as the original Project Portal truck- through experimentation, trial and error, and a lot of sweat. Once completed in 1935, the A1 was tested by the company’s founder, Kiichiro Toyoda, and then refined into their first commercially available car, the Toyoda AA. Likewise, through the lessons learned with the first truck, Project Portal 2.0 is more refined, functional, and capable. Also, just as the AA started Toyota on a path as an automotive leader, Project Portal is expanding Toyota’s already robust environmental leadership to the next level. Going forward, Toyota remains committed to supporting the development of a consumer-facing hydrogen infrastructure to realize the potential of fuel cell vehicles.



A Drop of Hydrogen in the Bucket

Over 16,000 pollution-emitting trucks are working in Ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles, a number that is estimated to balloon to 32,000 by 2030. More than 43,000 drayage trucks are in operation at ports across the United States, contributing significant amounts of carcinogens, diesel particulate matter (DPM) and other pollutants into the air of port communities and surrounding neighborhoods.
“Our goal with the first truck was to see if it could be accomplished, and we did that,” said senior manager for Toyota’s North American Electrified Vehicle & Technologies Office, Craig Scott. “This time we’re looking at commercial viability. We want to help make a difference—a significant difference when it comes to the air quality not only in the LA area, but across the U.S. and around the globe.”



More Than Just Trucks

This announcement is a continuation of Toyota’s Environmental Challenge 2050 efforts to eliminate CO2 emissions from its Toyota Logistics facility at the Port of Long Beach. Toyota has previously announced the construction of the Tri-Gen facility which will be the first megawatt-sized carbonate fuel cell power generation plant with hydrogen fueling in the world. The 100% renewable plant will use agricultural waste to generate water, electricity, and hydrogen that will support Toyota Logistics Services’ (TLS) operations at the Port of Long Beach.

Source | Images: Toyota.

Toyota will help high schoolers build and race fuel cell RC cars

Toyota is working with California high school students to put a real futuristic spin on the remote-control race car concept. The Japanese automaker is working with Horizon Educational Group on a competition that teaches high-school students how to build mini hydrogen fuel-cell electric vehicles, says Green Car Reports. And then race them.

The project is called the Hydrogen Horizon Automobile Challenge. Toyota started working with students from ten Los Angeles County high schools and ten Orange County high schools. The program is part of Horizon Educational Group's work producing teaching materials related to renewable-energy technologies such as wind and solar power as well as fuel cells. Meanwhile, Toyota's broader aim is to push high-school students into the so-called STEM fields (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics). You can never have enough young scientists for these automobile companies, can you? The first race among these students is scheduled for next March.

Toyota's expanding its community outreach efforts as it looks to boost exposure for its Mirai, which is the company's first mass-produced hydrogen fuel-cell vehicle and can go as far as 300 miles on a full tank. The automaker started selling the model at eight California dealerships last November, with lease rates starting at $499 a month. Through July, Toyota sold 270 Mirai vehicles in the US.

Reports also surfaced earlier this year that Toyota is planning to introduce a smaller, cheaper version of the Mirai in time for the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, with the price coming in at about $53,000, compared to the $65,000 price tag on the current Mirai in Japan. Not as small or as cheap as those little remote-controlled racers, of course.

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Toyota Mirai seeks to reclaim green image from Tesla, sans Supercharger network

2016 Toyota Mirai - Quick Drive - Portland, July 2015 [photo: Doug Berger]

Since launching in Japan in 1997, the Toyota Prius hybrid has imbued its maker with a strong green image.

The Prius has become Toyota's signature model, and helped the company become by far the world's largest seller of green cars.

But after nearly two decades on sale, hybrid powertrains no longer have the novelty they once did.

It appears that Toyota feels electric-car maker Tesla has stolen its thunder, but hopes that the Mirai hydrogen fuel-cell car will reclaim its image as a leader in both green cars and technology.

A hydrogen fuel-cell car can accomplish that because it offers a more familiar experience for consumers, Toyota North America CEO Jim Lentz said in an interview with Forbes.

“Consumers, while I think they love the idea of a high-tech car that’s very green, they still want a car that acts like what they are driving today," Lentz said.

2016 Toyota Mirai - Quick Drive - Portland, July 2015 [photo: Doug Berger]

Hydrogen fuel-cell cars can refuel in around five minutes from a pump that's at least somewhat similar to the ones used for gasoline; Toyota is betting this will ultimately win over consumers.

Right now, though, those consumers seem more excited about Tesla's electric cars.

That may be at least partially due to design differences. Despite its radical styling, the Mirai is more or less a regular mid-size sedan.

In contrast, the Tesla Model S and Model X aim to be more desirable, with an emphasis on performance and novel tech features like a massive dashboard touchscreen.

While its $57,500 base price is also lower than that of the base Tesla Model S, at $72,000, the Mirai is also harder to find.

Sales are currently limited to certain regions of California, and Toyota only plans on selling 3,000 copies by the end of 2017.

Tesla Supercharger stations at Harris Ranch, California, in April 2013 [photo: TeslaTap.com]

At the moment, the Mirai is also hampered by lack of fueling infrastructure, since owners can't take advantage of their homes' electrical service to "refuel."

Toyota sells the hydrogen car through eight dealerships in California, but creating an adequate network of fueling stations for that small market has proven challenging.

There are presently just 16 retail hydrogen fueling stations in the U.S., with about 30 expected to be open by the end of the year, according to HybridCars.

Tesla has a fast-growing network of "Supercharger" DC fast-charging stations along major highways, as well as 240-volt Level 2 AC stations it calls "destination chargers."

2016 Toyota Mirai hydrogen fuel-cell car, Newport Beach, CA, Nov 2014

Toyota has not so far committed to building a national hydrogen-fueling infrastructure in support of the Mirai.

Even if it did, installing stations at $1.5 million to $2 million apiece is much more expensive than installing DC fast-charging stations for battery-electric cars.

Despite the lower costs involved, however, General Motors has said it won't build the DC fast-charging equivalent of Tesla's Supercharger network for its upcoming 2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV electric car.

Honda Announces Prices For Hydrogen Powered Clarity

Good news, hydrogen fuel cell fans. You can lease a Toyota Mirai — if you live in southern California and within 25 miles of a functioning hydrogen refueling station — for just $499 a month. You can also lease a Hyundai Tucson FCEV for $499 a month. Now, Honda says its new hydrogen fuel cell powered sedan, the Clarity, will lease for “under $500 a month.” How much you want to bet that means $499?

Isn’t competition great? Thanks to the magic of free market forces, three manufacturers, toiling away for years on three different cars with three different fuel cells, have all decided independently of each other that the monthly lease value of their cars is identical. Talk about Adam Smith and the all powerful “invisible hand” of capitalism!

The Clarity is expected to go on sale in America before the end of 2016. Unlike its two competitors, a customer will be able to buy one instead of leasing it, once demand picks up and more hydrogen refueling stations get built. Honda hints the sale price will be right around $60,000, according to Motor Authority. Oddly enough, that is very close to what Toyota says its Mirai would cost, if you could buy one, which you can’t.

Honda says it will build three cars on the newly designed Clarity chassis — the fuel cell car first, then a plug-in hybrid later. That raises the question of whether the Accord plug-in hybrid will ever return to Honda’s product lineup. Ultimately, Honda expects to offer a battery electric car using the Clarity chassis as well. Building multiple cars on the same platform helps spread the costs of development among several models.

Conventional wisdom says manufacturers are losing their shirts on every fuel cell car built, so making the same chassis do double or triple duty makes sense. Hyundai is doing something similar with its new Ioniq. That car will offer customers a choice of hybrid or plug-in hybrid power plus a pure electric powertrain. All three versions are expected in showrooms by the end of the year.

All of this excitement does not make up for the fact that there are less than a half dozen hydrogen refueling stations in the entire country today. Imagine where Tesla would be if its SuperCharger network consisted of only 6 stations? The difference between Tesla and the makers of hydrogen fueled cars is the PHEV crowd expects taxpayers to pony up the money to build the hydrogen infrastructure. Tesla is paying the full cost of its charging network itself.

Toyota says there will be nearly 50 hydrogen fueling stations open in California soon. “I’m pretty confident by the end of the year we’re going to get to 48. It’s just growing pains,” says Jim Lentz, head of Toyota’s North American operations. What he doesn’t say is that Toyota expects California taxpayers to foot the bill. A hydrogen station costs as much as $3,000,000. Multiply that times 48 and then ask yourself if that is a wise investment for Californians. Isn’t there something else it could spend nearly $150,000,000 tax dollars on? Talk about your corporate welfare.

In the meantime, Toyota has told the few dealers who carry the Mirai to stop delivering them to customers until someone can figure out how to refuel them reliably. The hydrogen car revolution, for the moment, appears to be in full retreat.

Car Makers Giving Away Free Hydrogen

As part of the hoopla surrounding the official introduction of Toyota’s Mirai fuel cell car this week, the company announced that customers would receive free hydrogen for up to three years. Previously, Hyundai also said it would provide free hydrogen for buyers of its Tucson fuel cell vehicles. Are the manufacturers just being generous or is there something else going on here?

Actually, according to AutoBlog, the real reason is it’s not possible right now to accurately measure how much hydrogen is being dispensed at today’s refueling stations. Says Toyota’s national manager of environmental, safety and quality communications, John Hanson, “There are no set standards, so there is no way to charge people for anything.”

Alberto Ayala, the deputy executive officer for the California Air Resources Board, told the group attending the Mirai introduction, ” If you think about it, it’s a real simple yet real practical challenge. If you’re going to pay for X amount of hydrogen, you’re actually getting that amount of hydrogen.” Ayala said it’s not a difficult technical problem to measure the hydrogen as it goes into the car, but “we just have not done it. We are at a point where we are solving multiple remaining questions [with hydrogen infrastructure], and that just happens to be one of them.”

Last summer, the National Institute of Standards said it wants to set the standard tolerance for delivery accuracy at 1%. That’s half of the current 2% standard and would allow motorists to be sure of getting the amount of hydrogen they pay for every time they fill up. Last summer, NIST announced it had developed a hydrogen pump with an accuracy of 99.55%, but that equipment is not in widespread use yet.

Also earlier this year, the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) promulgated new standards for hydrogen refueling, including the shape of the nozzle and the pressures at which the gas will be delivered.  The new SAE J2601 establishes two standard pressures – 35 and 70 megapascals (MPa) – it says will permit refueling times of 3 to 5 minutes.

Hydrogen is the most active element on the periodic table. Containing it and making it bend to man’s will takes some doing. A few years from now, hydrogen refueling standards will be finalized and fuel cell cars will go mainstream. Or not. Until then, we all get free hydrogen.

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.

Massive New $50 Million SolarCity-Honda Megadeal Could Open FCEV Door

With barely a pause for breath after its groundbreaking MyPower solar financing announcement earlier this week, the leading solar company SolarCity is out with another megadeal. This one involves Honda in a $50 million venture to finance solar projects for Honda and Acura customers and dealerships in the U.S.

The new SolarCity-Honda deal actually adds $50 million to an existing $65 million solar financing pot that the two companies established last year, so it’s not exactly new as in never-before new.  However, when we first covered the launch of the partnership back in 2013 we skipped over an interesting angle that just occurred to us this minute.

Yep, that would be the f-word, as in fuel cell electric vehicles.

Fuel cell for FCX Clarity fuel cell electric vehicle (cropped) courtesy of Honda.

The New SolarCity-Honda Deal

The new $50 million SolarCity-Honda deal, announced just yesterday at the SXSW Eco conference in Texas, aims to drive the cost of on site solar power down to the affordability level by making the now-familiar power purchase agreement (PPA) platform available for a limited time to eligible Honda and Acura customers and dealers.

Under a PPA, property owners pay no money up front for their solar installation. They simply pay for the solar electricity they use on a monthly basis, which is typically less than what they would pay for grid-supplied electricity. The installer owns and maintains the hardware.

That MyPower SolarCity announcement from earlier this week added a new twist, which enables the property owner to lower their monthly payments by exercising a prepayment option.

SolarCity, Honda, And Your Solar Powered House

So, here’s where it gets interesting. For those of you new to the topic, among other high profile ventures the chairman of SolarCity is Elon Musk, who is also co-founder and CEO of Tesla Motors.

Tesla has focused like a laser on manufacturing superstar-quality plug in electric vehicles based on lithium-ion battery technology, so whatever SolarCity does to push the market for low cost, distributed solar energy give an assist to the market for Tesla Motors as well as other plug in EV manufacturers.

 

In terms of the Honda partnership, both SolarCity and Tesla stand to benefit from the solar-powered, EV-friendly house that Honda is demonstrating on the campus of UC-Davis in California (Ford and KB Home have also teamed up in a similar solar-EV home venture, btw, which is already being marketed in that state.)

SolarCity, Honda, and FCEVs

Keep in mind that fuel cell electric vehicles are EVs, too, and you can see how this will get even more interesting for Honda.

Here’s the pitch about that extra $50 million in solar financing from Honda’s press release (emphasis added):

Envisioning a future in which personal mobility products will be powered in large part by renewable energy, the two companies have begun implementing co-marketing programs that specifically encourage owners of either solar powered homes or plug-in electric vehicles to adopt the complementary product.

In case you’re wondering why Honda didn’t just come right out and say plug in electric vehicles or BEVs (fancyspeak for battery electric vehicles), that’s probably because along with its BEV lineup, Honda is one of the two leading automotive fuel cell patent holders globally.

Aside from getting ready to launch its new Clarity FCEV, Honda has teamed up with the other fuel cell patent leader, GM, in a major next-generation fuel cell and hydrogen production collaboration. That could end up leveraging the massive potential of the US Army market, given GM’s fuel cell demo project with the Army in Hawaii.

This is just a wild guess but given the advances in solar-powered hydrogen production, we’re also thinking that when Honda and GM say “next-generation” what they mean is sustainably sourced hydrogen.

Shorter version: SolarCity’s strategy of a seamless hookup between the EV market and distributed solar energy will eventually benefit FCEV owners as well as BEVs.

As for where all those FCEV owners might be, aside from the Army you can start with California, which is already a marketing hotspot for SolarCity and Tesla. FCEVs are in the state’s master plan for pushing the EV market forward, and construction is already under way on a network of hydrogen fueling stations in the state.

As with BEV charging stations, hydrogen fueling stations can be installed at some existing service stations, as demonstrated by a recent study by Sandia National Laboratories.

Add distributed, solar-powered hydrogen production and fueling to that network, and the issue of FCEV fueling convenience starts to drift away.

Did we mention that Honda already has a home-scaled, solar-powered hydrogen fueling station in the works?

Well, we just did. But if it’s starting to look like the SolarCity-Honda deal could end up undercutting Tesla’s BEV market, that’s way off in the future if ever at all.

Source: Gas 2.

Toyota: Hydrogen Fuel Will Be Costly

Toyota is one of the most outspoken proponents of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, even ditching its partnership with Tesla Motors to focus on the Toyota Mirai hydrogen fuel-cell vehicle. But even with generous incentives, fueling hydrogen fuel cell vehicles won’t be cheap, with a full tank of the clean-burning fuel costing around $50, reports Ecomento.

That’s what Toyota’s Senior VP of North America Bob Carter said at the recent JP Morgan Auto Conference, claiming that cost estimate comes directly from the Department of Energy. He says the cost will eventually fall to about $30, which is about on par with the cost to fuel many high-mileage compact cars. For example, my 2012 Chevy Sonic 1.4T costs on average about $35 to fill, and gives me 300 miles of driving range, which is what the Toyota Mirai is claiming.

From the onset though, hydrogen fuel will remain nearly twice as expensive as gasoline it seems, though the Department of Energy is funding research to accelerate price parity with gasoline. But from the onset, filling up a hydrogen fuel cell car is going to be costly, moreso than even gasoline.

Then again, you could just buy a car like the Tesla Model S, which can go 265 miles on a full charge which will cost you (depending on where you live) less than $10 to fully charge. If you hook up to a Tesla Supercharger though, that fuel is free. The initial batch of Hyundai Tucson Fuel Cell buyers will also get free fuel, though from a limited (though growing) number of hydrogen fueling stations across SoCal.

Toyota’s admission though makes it clear that even if you do buy a hydrogen car, it won’t save you a dime on fuel costs. Meanwhile, electric vehicles continue to increase in range and decrease in cost, and by 2017 the Tesla Model III aims to offer a 200-mile driving range per charge in a $35,000 sedan, half the price of the $70,000 Toyota Mirai, which begins production at the end of this year.

Sounds like yet another advantage goes to EVs, but Toyota doesn’t want to hear it.

Source: Toyota

Volkswagen chief says fuel-cell vehicles not possible at a "reasonable cost"

The head of Europe's biggest carmaker says the prospects for hydrogen vehicles are vanishing into thin air. Yes, when recently asked about fuel-cell technology, Volkswagen CEO Martin Winterkorn said it's nearly impossible to build those vehicles at a "reasonable cost."

As Automotive News reports, VW will keep on conducting research into fuel cells, but the company's focus recently has been on ramping up a broadened line of hybrid and battery-electric vehicles. Earlier this month, VW unveiled the XL1 diesel plug-in car at the Geneva Motor Show. Volkswagen says that model will get a whopping 261 miles per gallon.

Automakers like Toyota, Honda and Hyundai are preparing to debut their first production hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles (albeit in small numbers) in 2015, and they're not the only ones. In late January, Mercedes-Benzparent Daimler, Ford and Nissan announced a partnership to develop a "common" fuel cell drivetrain for vehicles that will be introduced as soon as 2017. Daimler has long pushed fuel-cell technology and announced last June that it was working with the German Federal Ministry of Transportation and Linde atmore than tripling Germany's hydrogen fueling stations to at least 50 in 2015, an increase from the 15 that were installed as of last year.

News Source: Automotive News - sub. req.

First production Hyundai ix35 Fuel Cell Vehicle prepped for Geneva

It's at least 57 days late, but Hyundai will be bringing the first ix35 Fuel Cell production vehicle to Geneva next week. The SUV, rolled off the line in Ulsan, Korea today, even though Hyundai promised that the ix35would start production by the end of 2012. Still, this is most concrete sign yet that Hyundai remains committed to it stated goal of making and leasing 1,000 hydrogen-powered ix35 vehicles (based on the standard ix35, aka Tuscon) by 2015. That's the year many automakers, like Nissan and Toyota, are planning to launch widespread H2 vehicles.

Hyundai says that ix35 Fuel Cell delivery to European customers is already underway, and the vehicle finished today is one of 17 that will be going to fleets in Copenhagen, Denmark (15) and Skane, Sweden (2). Europe will be the biggest early market for the new ix35, Hyundai says, "in order to prepare the market for mass production of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles" after costs are expected to come down after 2015. At that point, Hyundai plans to offer H2 vehicles for sale.

Differences between the gas- and hydrogen-powered ix35 vehicles include a refreshed radiator grille, bumper and fog lamps. The seven-inch GPS is also exclusive to the hydrogen-powered ix35. It has a top speed of 160 kilometers an hour and (99 miles an hour) and can go 594 kilometers (369 miles) per fill up. With today's production, Hyundai is laying claim to the title of "World's first automaker to launch mass production of Fuel Cell vehicles." We'll get a better look in Geneva, but for now you can see a pre-production from Paris last year.

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