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Toyota Test Their First Fuel Cell Buses

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toyota-hino-hydrogen-fuel-cell-bus-tokyo@2xFirst Toyota hydrogen fuel cell bus is currently under testing in Tokyo, Japan, in preparation for market launch.

Over the past few years, we have had quite a fair share of test hydrogen fuel buses at various locations around the world. Already back in 2009, keen developers of the technology introduced it in north-east China, closely followed by Mercedes-Benz Citaro FuelCELL hybrid bus that hit the streets of Hamburg later on the same year. Not long after, in 2010, Singapore and then London saw their first eight hydrogen fuel cell buses.

The new kid on the block is a product of the collaboration between the Japanese automaker Toyota and Hino Motors. The bus is powered by the same hydrogen fuel cell system that Toyota has put in their Toyota Mirai car. The system has two stacks of fuel cells and eight hydrogen tanks with storage capacity of 480 l (106 gal). Each of the two units can produce a maximum output of 114kW.

The buses are currently under testing in the Japanese capital Tokyo thanks to the cooperation of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government. From 24th until 30th of July, the vehicles will be covering public roads in the city center and the waterfront areas. The automakers from Toyota are hoping to gather enough information on performance of the vehicles, so that they can further improve the technology and make it perfect and fully ready for market launch.

The guys behind the technology would also like to assess the practicality of fuel cell buses for integration within the public transport system. In addition, they are hoping to assess whether the external power supply system can deliver in case of emergency and power outages.

Toyota and Hino hope that these new zero-emission fuel cell buses will bring us a step closer to an eco-friendly hydrogen-based society.

Image (c) Toyota

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1 COMMENT

  1. Honestly this is how Toyota should have introduced fuel cell vehicles, as part of fleet vehicles such as buses and big rig trucks. They can be refueled in a central fueling station which could be built more cost-effectively in many parts of the world. Contrast that to California, which is going to spend tens of millions of taxpayer dollars to build a few dozen stations around the state.

    Then after they’ve gotten some real world data, they could then use it to refine it for passenger cars. And since hydrogen was already available, they could then branch out throughout the cities more easily, thus addressing the “lack of infrastructure” problem, at least somewhat.

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