The Toyota FCV Just May Be the Car of the Future

As gas prices rise and looming fuel shortages become more foreboding, auto companies are looking to find alternative sources of fuel. Many companies have focused on creating electric cars or hybrid cars to help ease the world's dependency on gasoline. These vehicles are often classified as "FCV' or "fuel cell vehicles." Toyota, always one of the industry's tech leaders, has announced its hydrogen based FCV concept vehicle and its possible release in 2015.

Toyota's senior vice president of automotive operations had this to say about the future Toyota car: "We aren’t trying to re-invent the wheel; just everything necessary to make them turn." The Toyota FCV was unleashed at the CES in early January. The CES is the world's largest car show and the perfect place to showcase this future Toyota car.

The FCV concept car unveiled at CES is a four-door mid-sized sedan. It greatly resembled the Radiant Blue in size, shape, and general contours. From the outside, there isn't much to showcase it as a radically different car from pay Toyota models. The big change is under the hood, where the hydrogen based FCV engine is estimated to have about a 300 mile range and a 10 second zero-to-sixty acceleration rate.

This 300-mile range is amongst the top ranges for alternative fuel cars. Like electric cars, the Toyota FCV has almost no emission. The only emission to come from the FCV comes in the form of water vapor: this vapor is created as the engine runs and powers the FCV. The biggest advantage the FCV has over electric cars is the speed at which the engine can be recharged. According to the ECar FAQ site, it takes a minimum of 20 minutes to charge an electric engine from empty with high speed electric chargers. It will take only three to five minutes to refuel any future Toyota car that uses hydrogen FCV.

FCV engines also have a much smaller size and weight when compared to gasoline or fully electric engines. This smaller size removes a lot of excessive weight from the vehicle and makes it easier to accelerate and maintain top speed. Toyota estimates that a fully-powered FCV vehicle could also be used to power a home for up to a week in emergency situations. Output devices are already in the works. This would make your FCV vehicle akin to a high powered, highly efficient generator.

The Toyota FCV will initially be released in the California market. Toyota and various California based energy corporations are investing over $200 million into creating a hydrogen fuel infrastructure. It will be building up to 20 new stations in 2015 and 40 more by 2016. They are aiming for a total of 100 spread throughout the state by 2024. Groups involved in this process include the California Energy Commission, the Governor’s Zero Emission Vehicle Initiative, the California Air Resources Board, the U.S. Department of Energy, and the California Fuel Cell Partnership. These groups are already utilizing early versions of the FCV to test out its suitability for various driving conditions.

This investment in building a fueling infrastructure illustrates one of the biggest problems facing the FCV and alternate fuel based cars in general. Creating these vehicles is great, but creating a refueling structure that can support it takes years and years of hard work. Although Carter says that Toyota is doing a "good job" at building this infrastructure, the fact that only 100 stations will be operational in California by 2024 is a bit off-putting.

Price is another big problem with the Toyota FCV: alternative energy vehicles often cost double the cost of gasoline powered vehicles, making them hardly worth the investment for many people. However, Toyota is fully committed to making the FCV take off in America and across the world. If it puts its full support behind the vehicle, it definitely has the chance to succeed.

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Keyes a href=http://www.centennialtoyota.comCentennial Toyota is located in Las Vegas, NV and specializes in both new and used Toyota cars, trucks & Suvs. We proudly serve North Las Vegas, Henderson, Pahrump too!