Toyota Likely To Apply Fuel-Cell Technology to Long-Haul Trucks and Buses First

[jpak]

http://www.trucktrend.com/features/news/2009/163_news090420_toyota_fuel_cell_technology_on_long_haul_trucks_and_buses/index.html

Toyota continues pushing ahead with its fuel-cell program and is looking to market a fuel-cell vehicle in 2015. The alternative fuel technology will likely be applied first to long-haul trucks and buses before hitting passenger vehicles available for mass consumption. Toyota has leased more than 60 FCVs in Japan and the U.S. for preliminary testing and R&D since 2002, and another 14 units are planned for 2009. The FCVs are mainly modified Highlander SUVs and city buses. In the Aichi prefecture alone are eight fuel-cell-powered buses.

With six years remaining on Toyota's path to introducing a marketable retail FCV, the Japanese automaker is looking to achieve a 90% cut in costs, a 50% to 100% increase in power density and stack durability, a reduced platinum usage to 90% of current levels, and a widening of the operating temperature range from -22 F to 221 F.

To attain these goals, Toyota will start with using a thinner carbon-fiber layer and simplifying valve and regulator design for the tank to reduce overall costs. Improvements will be made to the electrolyte membrane, separator, and gas-diffusion layer of the stack, which should work toward extending fuel-cell life to 125,000 miles.

Having already delved deeply into fuel-cell research, Toyota has helped low-temperature operation through the use of super-cooled water in the stack. To assist FCV range, the fuel-tank capacity was doubled from pressure levels of 5075 psi to 10,150 psi. A driving test held last June revealed that the increased tank capacity, along with improvements to the fuel-cell system, was able to boost the range of the Highlander-based FCV from 206 miles to 500 miles. Currently, 5.5-cu-ft high-pressure tanks are being used.

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