Toyota reveals vision for hydrogen fuel cell vehicles in Australia

Posted on 7 Oct 2015 by Tim Brown

Toyota Australia predicts that the commercial sector will play a vital part in the roll-out of fuel cell vehicles in the future.

As part of this vision, Toyota believes that refuelling stations would be located in depots across the country to help fast-track the implementation of this new technology.

Since commercial vehicles return to a central depot each day, only one refuelling station would be required at each depot.

This not only means hydrogen fuel cell vehicles in Australia could be introduced a lot quicker, but it also allows more time for the relevant infrastructure to be rolled out throughout the country for private vehicle use.

This prediction comes as Toyota’s first commercially available fuel-cell vehicle, the Mirai, will be on show in Sydney at the 6th World Hydrogen Technologies Convention next week.

Toyota Australia President Dave Buttner said this would be the ideal pilot program should fuel cell vehicles be introduced locally.

“Hydrogen is a promising alternate fuel for the future and the Mirai is the exciting technology that Toyota is offering globally. As Australians, we want to eventually be part of that,” Mr Buttner said.

“Of course, we acknowledge that we are a fair way off being in a position to introduce this technology in Australia as we first need the relevant infrastructure.

“However, with a well-developed implementation plan towards the future, we believe this vision would be an ideal way to introduce Australia to this exciting new technology and pave the way for the eventual roll out to the private sector.”

The Mirai is already on sale in Japan and also available in the US and Europe from this autumn. Currently, drivers can expect a generous cruising range of approximately 550 kilometres and a convenient hydrogen refuelling time of approximately three minutes.

The Mirai, which means future in Japanese, uses the Toyota Fuel Cell System (TFCS), which features both fuel cell and hybrid technology. TFCS is more energy efficient than internal combustion engines and emits only water when driven.