Toyota is ready to show the world its answer to Tesla's Model S sports car. A concept car was shown off at the 2013 Tokyo Motor Show, but now Toyota has unveiled its final design and announced its release date. The unnamed, sleek sedan runs on hydrogen fuel cells.
The product of a 20-year quest for an efficient, low-emission, fuel cell vehicle, Toyota's new ride offers performance that rivals a gas engine car. Toyota says it can go 435 miles on a single charge, and it recharges in an astonishing three minutes.
Environmentally, the vehicle is leaps and bounds ahead of any gasoline-based car, emitting nothing but water vapor. The vapor comes from the chemical reaction between oxygen and hydrogen, which is ultimately what powers the engine. Other benefits of hydrogen fuel cells include easier transportation and storage than the system that powers traditional car engines.
"We are very excited by the arrival of fuel cell technology," said Karl Schlicht, executive vice president at Toyota Europe, said. "Of course there are many challenges ahead, such as the availability of fuelling infrastructure and customer awareness. But our history with hybrid gives us all the experience we need to bring a new technology to the market. In Europe we will be taking it step by step, gradually introducing the car in selected markets. But we are confident that hydrogen will become increasingly popular as a way of powering vehicles."
The car will debut first in Japan around March 2015, followed by launches in Europe and the United States in the summer. It will retail for approximately U.S. $69,000, or 7 million yen. The vehicle will make its North American debut at the 2014 Aspen Ideas Festival on June 27.
Earlier this month, Toyota made headlines when one of its executives let slip that the company has been investigating the use of technology to create "hovercars." Toyota quickly cautioned that this was not to be mistaken for "flying cars," but rather vehicles that would hover "a little bit away" from the road, in order to reduce friction. Toyota never gave any details on how it might someday accomplish such a technological feat.
Toyota is reportedly also testing its fuel cell tech on powering service vehicles like buses and forklifts, and possibly homes as well. Hyundai also debuted its first hydrogen fuel-cell vehicle this month.
