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Feann Torr28 Oct 2015
NEWS

Toyota plotting rival for Tesla Model X

Mirai's cutting-edge hydrogen fuel-cell tech could power new SUV and coupe models from Toyota

Toyota is banking on hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles (FCVs) becoming the go-to electric cars of the future and it's considering a number of new vehicle types to entice buyers, including an SUV and sports car.

That's the word from the Toyota Mirai's chief engineer, Yoshikazu Tanaka, who told motoring.com.au an SUV leveraging the Mirai's hydrogen technology was not out of the question.

"I'm not ruling out the possibly of SUV," he said at a Toyota event before the 2015 Tokyo motor show, "but we'll have to pace out the design evolution of FCV together with the design of the core technology."

"I mean, at the point we believe the SUV would be very attractive as an FCV, we will do that," he said.

Unlike fossil fuel-powered internal combustion engines, hydrogen fuel-cell cars like the Mirai split hydrogen molecules to generate electricity, and when combined with oxygen emit only water vapour.

The technology is not cheap and requires specialised infrastructure with only the US, Japan and Europe having more than a handful of refilling stations. Australia has one hydrogen fuelling station and it's owned by Hyundai, so don't expect the Mirai here anytime soon.

Tanaka said Toyota started with a sedan because it can be made incredibly aerodynamic – which is more difficult to achieve in an SUV.

"Mirai is the first generation of FCV. We really want people to know what it can do, so we don’t want this car to be about fashion, we want it to be fun to drive and efficient.

"In that sense we were meticulous, almost obsessive," he said.

The Toyota Mirai has a range of just over 500km, which it claims is better than most battery electric vehicles, or EVs.

Toyota insists the future of personal transport, including commercial and passenger vehicles, lies with hydrogen FCVs, but it's not a belief everyone shares.

Outspoken Tesla CEO, Elon Musk, has criticised Toyota and its insistence on FCVs, calling them 'fool cells'.

But Tanaka is unrepentant, saying the technology is here to stay and implying that a hydrogen-powered Toyota SUV could be more economical than the Tesla Model X.

"All the SUV EVs have very bad mileage or fuel consumption," he said.

Available to buy only in Japan and the US, the Toyota Mirai packs a hefty 122-litre hydrogen storage capacity (via two tanks), and is a front-drive, front-engined vehicle. So does a hydrogen-powered SUV have be front-drive too?

"No. We have options," said Tanaka.

"So we can place two hydrogen tanks to the rear of the vehicle, between the axles. But if we can come up with a different layout of the stack, motor and tank, we could have rear drive [too]."

"I'm not saying we're doing that right now, but we're open to many options," he observed.

As well as an SUV, he noted that a coupe was "an option as well" in terms of body style. So how about a hydrogen-powered Toyota 86 that emits only water from its tailpipes?

"For the time being we have to live with the very fat cylindrical tanks," he said. "And right now we cannot install a fuel stack into the 86."

But he noted that when the technology advances and prices come down – the Mirai costs about $US58,000 – there is scope for expanding hydrogen power into the SUV and sports car markets.

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