Toyota Turns the Light on How to Beat a Blackout

By Bill McLauchlan

Given the recent winter weather woes across much of the nation recently, a new hydrogen-powered Toyota could be the answer to keeping the lights on when power cuts strike.

Instead of fumbling for the candles – and regretting the decision not to buy a generator sooner – when the electricity supply fails, owners of the new Toyota FCV could simply reach for their car keys to keep their homes warm and bright.

The FCV, due to make its world sales debut next year, sparked a lot of interest for its potential as a back-up domestic energy supplier at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this week.

“We aren’t trying to re-invent the wheel; just everything necessary to make them turn,” said Bob Carter, Toyota’s senior vice-president automotive operations in the U.S. “Fuel cell electric vehicles will be in our future sooner than many people believe, and in much greater numbers than anyone expected,” added Carter.

The striking sedan’s electric motor can produce more than 100kW and, with a full tank of hydrogen fuel, could generate enough energy to power a regular home for a week. Engineers are now researching an external power supply device that could be used with the car to provide a safe and simple domestic connection.

The FCV’s potential as an emergency power supply is of course secondary to its principal role as a practical, zero-emissions vehicle. Benefitting from Toyota’s extensive hydrogen fuel cell research and development, it has a range of at least 485 km (300 miles) on a full tank, accelerates from zero 100 km/h (60 mph) in about 10 seconds and can be refilled just as quickly and safely as a conventional gasoline or diesel model. When driven, the car’s only tailpipe emission is water, the by-product of the fuel cell system’s electricity generation process.

Photo: PR Newswire/Newscom

Two vehicles shared centre stage at the CES presentation: The FCV concept, showing what the four-door, mid-size sedan will look like in Radiant Blue; and the camouflage-taped engineering prototype used in extensive and extreme on-road testing in North America for more than a year.

The engineering prototype displayed is a reflection of the automaker’s massive investment in fuel cell research and development over the last 20 years. Since 2002, Toyota has put a series of prototypes through their paces in North American conditions. In those 11 years – and more than 1.6 million km (a million miles) – it has dramatically reduced the cost of building a fuel cell powertrain. In fact, the company estimates a 95 percent reduction in the powertrain and fuel tanks of the car it will offer to the public next year, compared to what it cost to build the original prototype in 2002.

Toyota has made its hybrid vehicles central to its research into developing low-carbon homes, integrating the rechargeable Prius Plug-in hybrid car into its “smart grid” housing developments in Toyota City, Japan, and in a pilot project  which ran last year in the Indianapolis area in the United States.  Unofficially, Toyota hybrids have already proved their worth as mobile power stations, notably with Prius models being drafted in as emergency energy sources in the aftermath of the Japan earthquake and tsunami in 2011.

Planned for an initial sales launch in California, a program is currently underway with UCAL, Irvine, to help map out potential locations for new hydrogen fuelling stations. While specific sales volumes will be announced closer to the car’s public debut, Carter said Toyota has revised initial market plans and requested additional vehicles. When it will appear in colder northern climes remains to be seen.