It’s official: the future officially arrives in the United States in the summer of 2015.
Toyota has officially announced that its hydrogen fuel cell vehicle (FCV) will land on American soil in late 2015, and will be launched in Japan in April of the same year. The FCV will have a starting cost of ¥7 million (about $69,000) overseas.
Of course, other brands have released FCVs before, but Toyota’s version is unquestionably the highest profile, and will probably be the most common fuel cell-powered vehicle on the road starting next year.
As we previously reported, Toyota plans to cut that price in half by the 2020s, but no U.S. pricing figures have been released yet.
The production variant takes most of its design cues from the early concept, albeit with more conventional mirrors, a slightly toned down rear end, and more conservative front bumper. Still, it’s nice to see the road going version looking like a normal car and not like a discarded model from H.R. Giger’s basement.
As far as performance, Toyota promises the FCV will function similarly to a gasoline-powered vehicle, with a range of approximately 700 km (434 miles). The Japanese manufacturer has previously confirmed a 0 to 60 mph acceleration time of around 10 seconds.
According to Energy.gov, there are 56 public hydrogen fueling stations in the United States, but we expect this number to grow quickly as we head toward the FCV’s US debut.
California has 10 public stations currently, the most in the nation, but Toyota hopes to have 50 in place in the Golden State by the end of 2016. Furthermore, California has enacted a law to build 100 public stations by 2024. For comparison, Japan has 31 public stations at the moment, but there are more on the way.
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