Toyota has been working on hydrogen-powered cars for 23 years — longer than any other automaker — and we're finally starting to see the results of its work. In October 2015, the automaker began selling its hydrogen-powered Toyota Mirais in California — marking the first time hydrogen-powered vehicles were sold in the United States. We spoke with Craig Scott, Toyota's national advanced technology manager, to learn more about Toyota's plans for hydrogen-powered vehicles. Here's what he had to say:
According to the Alternative Fuels Data Centre there are 12,131 electric charging stations for EVs in the US, but if Toyota is to achieve its target to sell 3,000 of its hydrogen-powered Mirais models by 2017, it will have to improve its country-wide infrastructure of hydrogen stations. Currently there are 49 hydrogen fuelling stations in California that are either open, or waiting or being built, with 12 stations about to be constructed on the East Coast, and a few stations scattered throughout the rest of the US. Despite the limitations with the range of hydrogen vehicles, Toyota's national advanced technology manager said "My belief is we will eventually find a new way to store hydrogen...When those breakthroughs start to happen it becomes ostensibly easier to do longer distances."