Toyota FCHV 2009 Review - International

Toyota FCHV
 

Overall rating: 3.5/5.0
Engine/Drivetrain/Chassis: 3.5/5.0 (2.5 for chassis, 4.0 for the rest)
Price, Packaging and Practicality: 3.5/5.0 (price N/A, 3.0 for packaging, 4.0 for practicality)
Safety: 3.5/5.0 (can't burn your hand on the radiator!)
Behind the wheel: 3.0/5.0
X-factor: 4.0/5.0

About our ratings

Anything presented as 'experimental' is bound to make you nervous. So it was that the Carsales Network approached Toyota's FCHV fuel cell vehicle with the sort of trepidation normally reserved for dialogue with precocious children, monkeys at the zoo and aging Italian sportscars.

The reality was actually a little disappointing; the FCHV is an ultra-Toyota. Quiet, unobtrusive, never catching you out with anything remotely out of order; no transmission steps, no induction noise, not even the whine you'd hear from a golf cart. There wasn't even the clunk of a solenoid channelling power to the electric-motor drive. It makes a Camry seem raw.

The FCHV is thus extraordinarily disarming. The only thing to stump the reviewer momentarily was the placement of the indicator stalk once the vehicle was on the move. Let's see, it's a Japanese vehicle, but left-hand drive -- and it's a Toyota -- ipso facto, must be on the left side of the steering wheel. Sure enough...

The reason for the stalk being placed on that side of the steering column was that the LHD car was based at Toyota's HQ in Torrance, a suburb of Los Angeles. Toyota had invited a contingent of Aussie media to drive the fuel cell vehicle, which bundles up all the paraphernalia for the advanced alternative drive system in a past-expiry-date Kluger (or Highlander in the US market).

Operating the FCHV wouldn't pose a serious challenge to even a learner driver. It's like driving a really quiet petrol vehicle with a Continuously Variable Transmission.

For some reason, the reviewer half-anticipated it would hiss steam and issue high-tech metallic clicking noises as it ponderously moved away from a standing start. Wrong! While it's not going to win any street drags, it was brisk enough for commuters -- and without any of the hissing or clicking.

In respect of controls, the FCHV is very much like an ordinary Kluger with automatic transmission. If there's one other cause for confusion, it stems from waiting for an internal combustion engine to spring into life -- before realising that all you have to do is prod the accelerator for the vehicle to move off.

For the purpose of this drive program, Toyota laid on two examples of the FCHV. One is an example of the original development, with a 35MPa hydrogen capacity. The other car is technically the same, other than an upgrade to the hydrogen storage -- 70MPa.

It's this later ('Advanced') FCHV that recently ran a 3750km open-road test on the Alcan Highway -- a stretch of road from Fairbanks, Alaska, running through the city of Vancouver on the west coast of British Columbia in Canada. The FCHV Advanced is capable of starting in colder temperatures than the earlier FCHV, something that suited the purposes of the Toyota crew testing the car in the Great White North.

Toyota had displayed a cut-away of the FCHV at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit. The elements of the fuel cell and drive system were clearly shown and labelled, with the power control unit above the fuel cell stack under the bonnet. At the rear, the Kluger's rear-wheel drivetrain components have been replaced with four hydrogen tanks and a nickel metal hydride battery. The electric motor supplied by either or both the battery and the fuel cell stack resides under the bonnet and drives the front wheels only.

FCHV is an acronym for 'Fuel Cell Hybrid Vehicle'. Toyota's long-term commitment to hybrid-drive systems goes beyond the ultimate end of reliance on fossil fuels and internal combustion. The FCHV is a hybrid, even though there's no internal combustion engine supplying either motive power or longer range, since the fuel cell generates its own electricity to complement the electricity stored in the battery.

When called upon by the driver, both electricity sources supply the motor, which can also regenerate electricity for the battery from braking. It's a complex system, but Toyota has found a way to package it all in a conventional SUV body -- one without rear drivetrain components, of course.

Leaving aside the expense of fuel cell technology in cars and the lack of hydrogen replenishment resources, the FCHV is a ready-to-go proposition for mass-market consumers right now. In fact, Toyota has been leasing the Advanced version of the FCHV to a Japanese government department since late last year.

There's the rub; this is a type of technology which represents a far better prospect for the future of personal transport.

In isolation, this would have been the logical successor to the internal combustion engine, even without peak oil and global climate change. As it stands, it still is that logical successor, but the hurdles to overcome don't just rest with the commercialisation of the technology itself.