Toyota's first fuel cell vehicle in 2015 will be priced "shockingly" low

REPORT: Toyota's first fuel cell vehicle will be priced "shockingly" low
by Sebastian Blanco on Jul 20th 2009 at 7:56PM

How low is "shockingly" low?

According to an article in Ward's Auto (subs req'd), when Toyota puts its first production hydrogen fuel cell vehicle up for sale in 2015, the price will be so low it will "shock" the U.S. auto industry. Justin Ward, advanced powertrain program manager-Toyota Technical Center, said that economies of scale will be in place to drop the price down to something that is surprisingly low. Ward didn't name the shocking price, but did say that Toyota is pleased where its fuel cell technology is today. The automaker fully expects the next iterations of the fuel cell technology – currently used in the FCHV – to be ready to meet all customer demands of range and operating temperature, and it will bring the cars to market whether the refueling infrastructure is in place or not. Toyota is currenlty testing customer behavior with hydrogen cars by seeing how people adapt from a standard Prius to a plug-in Prius to a fuel-cell prototype vehicle.

Right now, customers can lease a Honda FCX Clarity in Southern California for $600 a month. How low will the 2015 price have to be to shock you?

[Source: Ward's Auto (subs req'd)]
Tags: featured, shockingly low, Shockingly Low, toyota fuel cell, toyota fuel cell hybrid vehicle, toyota hydrogen, Toyota Fuel Cell, Toyota Fuel Cell Hybrid Vehicle, Toyota Hydrogen

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.Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

1unni
8:29PM (7/20/2009)
$15k for a 2010 prius equivalent one. I will be shocked if its below this price.

Till that i wont be shocked because its only electric motor, fuel cell stack,ultracapacitor , hydrogen storage/helper systems and a CPU.

Reply
↓↑report2Chris M
9:11PM (7/20/2009)
Considering that they are currently leasing the FCHV for $7,000 per month, I sincerely doubt the price will be all that low. In fact, I wouldn't be at all surprised if they announced a delay in 2014 "to solve some problems", like unaffordable prices.

I'd be surprised if they get the price below a quarter million, and truly shocked if they get the price below $100,000

Of course, they might try the "Riversimple" approach, making it a tiny underpowered limited range 2 seater! But in that case, the "shock" would be the underwhelming performance in an overpriced NEV.

This is just another attempt to spread FUD and discourage people from buying plug-ins now. But it could backfire badly, causing people to delay purchasing a new car and NOT purchase a Toyota hybrid, thinking a cheaper H2FC car was imminent. Of course, when the H2FC price turns out to still be "shockingly high" in 2015, it will be Toyota suffering from "shockingly low" sales.

Reply
↓↑report3Boxman
9:15PM (7/20/2009)
Even if Toyota could make an FCEV at an affordable price, you still have the problem of infrastructure. At least with an EV, you can be reasonably assured of finding an outlet somewhere, even if you have to strike a bargain with some local hotel owner or something. There's no city or town in this country that doesn't have electricity.

But with hydrogen, you'd better limit your driving to Dearborn, Michigan or Los Angeles unless you want to get stranded. And since hydrogen infrastructure is so complex and expensive, it won't be spreading across the United States anytime soon.

Worse still, the very limited ranges of fuel-cell vehicles (vs gasoline) makes an infrastructure even more critical (an infrastructure which I would remind everyone does not currently exist).

To say nothing of the wisdom of using a power-storage device with only 1/5 the efficiency of batteries...

So even excluding the cost factor, hydrogen is still a loser compared to every other alternative (including the old-fashioned internal combustion engine).

In any case, we all know Toyota's full of **** as their promises to dramatically reduce fuel-cell costs will be forgotten by 2015. Ain't gonna happen.
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