According to foreign media reports, Toyota Motor externally stated that the company will prepare to build a larger-scale factory for the production of hydrogen fuel cells, which means that Toyota will expand the scale of production of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. Although the new energy vehicles at this stage are mainly The trend is purely electric, but the future of hydrogen fuel cells will also occupy a place.
The Toyota hydrogen fuel cell plant will be located in Toyota City near the Toyota Motor Corporation headquarters. In addition, a dedicated production line will be built at the nearby Shimoyama plant to produce high pressure hydrogen storage tanks for storage of liquid hydrogen in vehicles.
Although Toyota did not publicize the investment details of the project, it is expected to begin mass production around 2020, which will also allow Toyota Motor to achieve the goal of global fuel cell vehicle sales of more than 30,000 vehicles, including passenger cars and commercial vehicles. .
Toyota Motor said in a statement: Fuel cell technology is now very mature. There is no problem with large-scale production vehicles. The popularity of hydrogen-powered zero-emission vehicles needs to start around 2020.
The world's first mass-produced hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicle (FCEV), Toyota Mirai, is already available in Japan, the United States and some European countries. The car sells for about 7.2 million yen in the Japanese market (65,807.51). US dollars).
Due to its high manufacturing costs and the fact that hydrogen refueling stations are not yet popular, Mirai is currently focusing on small batch production. Since its launch in 2014, it has sold only about 5,300 units.
The new plant built this time can support the large-scale production of hydrogen fuel cell stacks and hydrogen storage tanks, which means that the cost of fuel cell vehicles will drop.
In addition, Honda is also cooperating with Hyundai in the production of fuel cell vehicles. Hyundai also launched its own first hydrogen fuel cell car, modern nexo. However, many car manufacturers including Nissan and Tesla are involved. , Focus on pure electric vehicles, which is different from Toyota's plans for zero-emission travel.
As Toyota, which develops and mass-produces Prius, the world’s first gasoline hybrid vehicle, it is only a matter of time before hydrogen-fuel-cell vehicles can be launched into the market.