TORRANCE, CA - Toyota Motor Corporation's (TMC) has unveiled a fuel cell hybrid vehicle (FCHV) that includes a more efficient fuel cell stack, improved control system and higher-pressure storage system. The new concept successfully completed a real-world 560-km (348-mile) long-distance road test by traveling from Osaka to Tokyo on a single fueling of hydrogen.
Toyota calculates that the vehicle has a single-fueling cruising range of approximately 466 miles. The prior version of the Highlander-based fuel cell hybrid has a cruising range of about 205 miles. The Toyota FCHV used in the trip is also 25 percent more fuel efficient than earlier versions, due to improvements in the Toyota FC Stack fuel cell and to improvements in the control system for managing fuel cell output and battery charging/discharging.
Improvements include a 70Mpa (10,000 psi, 700 bar) high-pressure hydrogen tanks capable of storing approximately twice the amount of hydrogen as the TOYOTA FCHV's previous 35Mpa high-pressure hydrogen tanks. The fuel cell hybrid's battery pack remains the same 21 kW NiMH pack. The other basic performance specs of the improved FCHV also remain the same as those of its predecessor: the fuel cell stack produces 90 kW of output, the 90 kW electric traction motor produces 260 Nm (192 lb-ft) of torque, top speed is 155 km/h (96 mph).
(Source: GreenCarCongress.com)
