Toyota has revealed the exterior styling for its new hydrogen-powered Fuel Cell Sedan set to arrive in UK next summer. The final design was shown for the first time ahead of its Japanese launch in April 2015. Only limited number of vehicles will make it to the UK and the four door saloon will have a starting price of seven million yen in Japan, which is £40,475 approximately according to today’s forex rates.
The Fuel Cell Sedan is based on production ready FCV concept shown at last year’s Tokyo Motor Show and uses Toyota’scompact fuel cell stack and a pair of high-pressure hydrogen tanks. Hydrogen and Oxygen gathered from the air go through a chemical reaction to generate electricity, with water vapour, the only waste product created by driving.
Toyota claims performance and range both match up closely to that of a petrol-engined vehicle, whilst refuelling takes roughly three minutes which is well short of the lengthy charging time required for EVs.
The Japanese automaker also sees hydrogen has “great potential” as a substitute for conventional fuel because the ease of producing it from sources such as solar and wind power, as well as being straightforward to store and transport. It can also be used in large-scale power generation.