Hydrogen fuel cell reality

Performing miracles with water is often a feat of biblical proportions. However, recently Toyota revealed an impressive trick of its own at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. The Mirai was revealed last years as a concept powered by Toyota’s latest hydrogen fuel cell technology packaged in the bodyshell of a mid-sized sedan.

The Mirai, says Toyota, is a production reality arriving in showrooms in Japan early in January. It is built on Toyota’s Prius C platform at the Motomachi plant in Japan and will go on sale in the US and Europe in October.

Toyota, in fact, has been working to refine hydrogen fuel cell technology for more than two decades. Others, including General Motors have developed hydrogen-powered concepts, while Hyundai has been moderately successful leasing its hydrogen Tucson SUV to customers in Southern California.

Toyota claims a driving range of 480km and zero to 100km/h in about 9.0 seconds. Toyota didn’t mention in-city or on-highway driving efficiency, but did say the two fuel tanks take only three to five minutes to fill.

Impressive outputs on par with a petrol engine car. The Mirai, though, performs a unique trick. Instead of producing toxic exhaust gases, as does a petrol engine, to convert fuel into forward motion, the fuel cell produces only water. Toyota claims the Mirai’s exhaust waste is so clean you can practically drink it.

It is a reality that makes theoretical physicist Michio Kaku giddy with excitement. Under Kaku’s long white hair is a brain often deep in thought. “This could be the dawn of the age of hydrogen,” he said, “as we leave the age of carbon.”

“Hydrogen is no mystery,” continues Kaku speaking at the Mirai’s press conference. “We’ve lived with hydrogen for more than a century.”

As a very basic explanation, a hydrogen fuel cell works by separating the electron from its hydrogen atom. The freed electrons are then used to power an electric motor. “We see this hydrogen system in the Mirai as simply a better battery,” says Bob Carter, senior vice president Toyota’s American Operations.

Compared with a large lithium-ion battery pack used in an electric vehicle, a fuel cell is lighter and offers a much quicker recharge time.

“The fuel cell in the Mirai is so small it sits under the passenger seat, and production costs are down by 90 per cent from two decades ago,” says Carter. “The engineers tell me they believe they can make it even smaller and reduce cost further.”

According to Carter, Mirai production in 2015 will be about 700 cars, and that will increase to tens of thousands by 2020.

The fuel cell technology has been developed entirely in-house by Toyota which in turn has received more than 5680 hydrogen-related global patents. Almost 2000 of those patents centre on the fuel stack technology while a further 290 patents concern the high-pressure hydrogen storage tank.

The IP (intellectual property) is perhaps worth billions of dollars; yet Toyota is willing to give its IP away royalty-free to other car manufacturers manufacturing and selling hydrogen vehicles. By Open Sourcing the technology, Toyota hopes to accelerate the adoption of hydrogen technology and create consumer demand for hydrogen-powered vehicles. Carter believes the next five years are critical.

Creating consumer demand for fuel-cell vehicles is important, and so too is building an infrastructure capable of supplying hydrogen to hundreds of refilling stations. Hydrogen may be a clean burning fuel, but the industrial manufacturing of hydrogen is not so squeaky.

In the race to be green, hydrogen fuel-cell technology appears to be evenly matched with plug-in electric technology. We may be seeing different shades but we’re still seeing green.