Toyota is well aware of the challenges it faces with the nascent fuel cell infrastructure in the U.S., as an executive explains in an interview. That awareness may become more acute -- at least in the media -- as Toyota tries to take on Tesla Motors and its Supercharger network in the coming years and win the long-range alternative fuel vehicle race. Tesla is closing in on 500 Supercharger stations across the globe (many of those in the U.S.) with lots more coming in 2016. I asked Craig Scott, national alternative fuel vehicle manager at Toyota, about the challenges. Below is an excerpt from that interview. The Japanese car maker began taking “requests” for its hydrogen fuel-cell electric vehicle Mirai on July 20. The initial goal is 3,000 units by the end of 2017. With a range of EPA estimated 312 miles, the car will launch in California in October, 2015. The Mirai is priced at about $58,000. Q: How big a hurdle is infrastructure? Scott: Toyota is working with infrastructure developers on the west coast and the east coast. Infrastructure is vastly improved this year over last year but it's still lagging. There's still a lot of development work that needs to occur. I often say that the infrastructure is a generation behind the vehicle. And that's something that's going to have to be resolved and reconciled pretty quickly [over] these next two years as we ramp up sales and as other manufacturers come online. Q: What's happening in California right now? (Toyota is currently limiting Mirai sales to California.) Scott: There are 48 stations that are planned and funded by the state of California that are all in various stages of development. There are a handful of stations that already exist but we don't consider those to be Mirai-friendly, if you will, they're really not ready for prime time. Of the 48 that have been developed, two have been completed so far. Probably another eight or so that are in construction. By the end of the year we're anticipating somewhere in the neighborhood of 10 to 15 stations open and ready. That means that they're retail ready for a Mirai customer. That will obviously grow over time and we [should have] 20 more for next year. There are funding cycles in California. It's roughly $20 million a year. (Note that there are eight dealerships in California that will be providing the Mirai in the San Francisco Bay area and Los Angeles and nearby Orange County.) Q: How does this compare to Japan, where the government seems hell-bent on building out a fuel-cell infrastructure? Scott: There [is] more funding available in Japan than in the U.S. as a rule. The government has taken a very active role in helping to propagate stations across the country whereas in the U.S. that hasn't happened yet. There is no federal policy towards a hydrogen infrastructure [in the U.S.]. And there's a big push right now in Japan to deregulate a lot of chemical standards that get in the way, [like those for] compressed gases. That will lead to a much more simplified and standardized approval process for permitting, which is something we're sorely lacking in the U.S. Note: Toyota is being very cautious about who gets to buy or lease a Mirai because of infrastructure issues. "There are a lot of factors that go into ensuring we place a vehicle with a customer [such as being] close to infrastructure," a Toyota spokesperson said.
As we reported last Friday, fuel cell vehicle owners in California are being extremely vocal about the problems they are having accessing hydrogen to fuel their cars, with many hydrogen fuelling stations inoperable. This is obviously a problem for Toyota upon the launch of their Mirai, however in a recent interview Toyota's Craig Scott notes that "there's still a lot of development work that needs to occur" on a hydrogen fuelling infrastructure, and that while it's "vastly improved this year," its development is "still lagging." He then explained that Toyota expects 20 stations "open and ready" by the end of the year (and capable of fuelling the Mirai), with another 10 to 15 to open next year.