At the press conference that was held in Japan, company officials revealed the exterior design of the FCV pre-production prototype. Interior features, along with the vehicle's name, volume, and full specifications will be released later.Toyota also announced that the FCV will go on sale in the Japan domestic market before April 2015, and then summer 2015 in Europe and the state of California. The release in other states and countries will follow. The Toyota FCV will be priced somewhere near 7 million yen, which is approximately $68,000.
“Our society is on the cusp of a revolution in personal mobility,” said Osamu Nagata, President and CEO of Toyota Motor Engineering and Manufacturing North America. “Slowly but surely, new technologies are changing how we think about automobiles and transportation -- from intelligent, automated systems that team up with drivers to improve safety, to zero-emission vehicles that emit nothing but water vapor. These technologies will help save lives, improve the environment, create jobs and help the U.S. maintain technical leadership in a field that is an important contributor to economic growth.”
The technology allows features such as “driver lock-in,” which tracks the driver’s body frame and automatically enables or disables features based upon who is interacting with the navigation panel. There are new ways in researching vehicles, new ways to use emerging wearable devices, such as smart watches, to control key vehicle functions in an effort to understand the potential impact of these devices on auto safety. In addition, the Toyota DARV 1.5 looks at new ways to create a safer driving environment by measuring driver
behaviour and providing a driving «score» based on safe driving choices.
behaviour and providing a driving «score» based on safe driving choices.
Toyota says that the car is «an important step forward for zero-emission vehicle technology». According to Bob Carter, the senior vice president of automotive operations for Toyota Motor Sales, the FCV will be a mid-size four-door sedan that will be rated as a zero-emission car and will have the power to travel 300 miles on a single "fill-up." One fill-up should take no more than 5 minutes. He believes that "this will be a very special vehicle. And we believe we can bring it in at a very reasonable price for a lot of people."
"The success of fuel cell technology will depend less on the genius of the car, than on the ownership experience," said Carter. "Stay tuned, because this infrastructure thing is going to happen."
Also the question is, how does one fill up a hydrogen fuel cell vehicle? Toyota's plan is to have hydrogen refueling stations built in the countries and the states that will have approach to the vehicle. Building and supporting this kind of the stations will be possible by First Element Fuels, who will be supporting Toyota in this effort.
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