National television broadcaster among involvers set to sample Toyota’s fuel cell car as brand pushes hydrogen uplift.

METROPOLITAN Auckland will be a regular beat for Toyota’s hydrogen car, the Mirai, for an undisclosed period, with announcement today that a trial mooted more than a year ago is finally under way.

Eight corporates - The Warehouse, Air New Zealand, Saatchi and Saatchi, TVNZ, Beca, Westpac NZ, Spark and Z Energy – will take turns operating the fuel cell five-seater.

Fuel cell vehicles are the next step up from the mains-replenished electric vehicles achieving increasing national interest, and Toyota New Zealand believes there is a good future for hydrogen here across a span of usages.

With the automotive sector, however, the technology has become vexed. Only Toyota and Hyundai have provisioned it in New Zealand, the latter in a heavy truck also being trialled as well as a car, and other big name makers have recently curtailed their own developments.

Fuel cell vehicles are advantaged by delivering superior range than EVs can often provision and also appeal when refuelling, as replenishing the hydrogen tank takes around the same time required to fill up a conventional fossil-fuelled vehicle.

However, they are more expensive than like-sized EVs, which themselves are often criticised for being too pricey for general use. Though it doesn’t exude expensiveness in its look or fit out, Mirai is said to be the most expensive car Toyota has ever made.

Another challenge to usage is that a national refuelling infrastructure does not exist.

Auckland was chosen for Toyota’s ‘Hydrogen Project’ because it is the most practical location. Mirai is highly suited to city driving and, most vitally, Ports of Auckland is to provision the hydrogen.

Mirai has involved in extended demonstration programmes around the world. In most countries long-term involvers get to lease the model and that’s been discussed by Palmerston North-based TNZ as being a potential. Costs have not been discussed but, as a barometer, in Australia a 36 month, 60,000km agreement, which includes fuel, works out at $NZ67,490.

TNZ initially hoped to kick off its car-sharing exercise last year but various delays stymied that.

However, the interruption has meant it is now involving four examples of the latest, second generation Mirai, launched internationally last year, which is larger, more luxurious and offers big improvements in performance over the first-gen model it originally cited for use. All up, TNZ has 10 Mirai, but that count might include the two first generation examples it has had for some time.

The car is set to be a fascination. Fuel cell cars are electric car at heart, but the electricity they use is developed on-board, through a chemical process, electrolysis. This converts hydrogen gas held under high pressure into electrical energy, with no tailpipe emissions.

Around the same dimension as a Camry sedan, the version on trial has a 134kW/300Nm electric motor on the rear axle, driven by a 128kW 330-cell polymer electrolyte fuel-cell stack, three hydrogen storage tanks (offering 5.6kg combined), and a 1.2kWh lithium-ion battery.

A maximum driving range of 650km on the WLTP test cycle is claimed, as is a 9.2 second 0-100kmh time.

Today’s announcement includes comment from Toyota New Zealand chief executive Neeraj Lala, who is presently with Government’s trade mission which arrived in Japan today.

Speaking to the Hydogen Project, Lala says Toyota is focused on looking at other opportunities to trial the applications of hydrogen technology outside of the automotive sector.

“Hydrogen fuel cell technology is another step in the journey to a zero-emissions transport eco-system. The commercial application of this technology is vast and Toyota has the means to explore new technologies,” he says.

“These Kiwi companies have joined together to demonstrate the commercial possibilities of hydrogen technology in a real-world car-sharing trial. Toyota and our Hydrogen Project members are committed to a carbon-neutral future.

“This trial also showcases the ability for large companies to join together to share their fleets, which in the future could lead to larger reduction in carbon emissions when you are talking about sharing, say, 100 cars,” he says.

Car-sharing with hydrogen cars is not common anywhere in the world, Lala says, “and we are all keen to see how this will work in practice, and how we can utilise this technology further.”

Lala says as hydrogen infrastructure is still in its infancy in New Zealand, the trial hydrogen car sharing scheme was established as a catalyst for a burgeoning hydrogen export market. “There is pressure to reduce carbon emissions. Change is coming rapidly and we need to accelerate the introduction of new technology and innovations to support a low carbon future,” he says.

Toyota sees the long-term use of hydrogen in broader applications than the automotive industry.

“We are striving to share technologies and systems as it is our belief that environmental technologies should not be monopolised, while helping to contribute to the reduction of C02 emissions through becoming a technology systems supplier.”

Hydrogen can store more energy in less weight, making the Toyota fuel cell system suitable for vehicles with heavy payloads and long ranges, Lala contends.

Fast refuelling also benefits commercial fleets and other vehicles in near-continuous use such as straddle carriers, forklifts, taxis, and car-sharing schemes.

Lala says New Zealand is well positioned to grow its use of renewable energy, with the right investment, that could be sustainably used to produce green hydrogen as a next generation fuel. Hydrogen produced from renewable energy is known as ‘green hydrogen’ and could be a key element in the country’s energy economy in the future.

“Toyota is committed to providing a diversified range of carbon-neutral options to meet the needs of every country and region. The use of green hydrogen as a fuel for transport is also about having cleaner air to breathe in our cities by reducing other gases and polluting particles from combustion engines.

“New Zealand is an ideal place, with our renewable energy and resourceful culture, to test new ideas and innovate for a better world,” he says.

Hydrogen is one of many new powertrain options being developed by Toyota in its transition to a low carbon future. Recently Toyota revealed 16 new battery electric models and committed to producing 3.5 million electric vehicles cars per year by 2030.

Lala says Toyota is keeping many options open and is not committed to one fuel source or technology. “This is not a distraction from BEV application in our light vehicle fleet, it is to ensure our ongoing business resiliency beyond just mobility through alternative business opportunities.

“As the market leader, we have the ability to explore innovations that enable an affordable and accessible transition to a low carbon future.

“It is more important to adapt to changes in the future than trying to predict the future. With the pace of change accelerating due to technological innovation, predicting the future becomes increasingly difficult.”