Hydrogen-powered Corolla and other Toyota plans

[FROSTYBALLS]

4 hours ago, Catlover said:

Toyota said zero emission sales in Europe by 2030 to ne 50% of Euro sales.

In the UK hybrids can still be on sale until 2035. these may need to be PHEv's as there will probably be a requirement for hybrids to travel a specified distance on EV. The Government are supposedly launching a consultation a some point to consult on what this specification should be.

[Cyker]

Yup, PHEVs only, no normal or mild hybrids - I think the requirement was something like 50-60 miles EV-only range minimum, or something like that.

 

[FROSTYBALLS]

13 minutes ago, Cyker said:

I think the requirement was something like 50-60 miles EV-only range minimum, or something like that.

That's what the consultation will help them decide.

[AJones]

As we head towards 2030 and EV sales rise, it'll be interesting to see whether EVs reach a price and performance point where consumer's shift rapidly away from fuel burning vehicles, ahead of the 2030 dead line.

For diesel cars, there's no ban on buying one, but the Uk market has clearly shifted against them and sales have collapsed, they once had 50% of the new car market, now it's down to just 10% so far this year and only 7% in the last month. That is a huge shift but mostly driven by consumer preferences. 

That kind of shift is some way off for petrol vehicles, but already some corporate fleets are going EV only, there's trials of zero emission zones, there will come a point where like diesel, consumers increasingly regard petrol burning vehicles as undesirable, leaving it to niche purposes.

[TonyHSD]

There are already plenty of  bev of any size on offer widely available to purchase on similar prices or slightly more expensive than equivalent ice or hybrids. The truth is that for many motorists bev or hydrogen fuel cell cars are simply not convenient enough to warrant a purchase over ice or self charging hybrids which we should categorised  together since Toyota sch(hsd) are simply ice cars with best start stop technology 👍. There are direct competition to Prius, Yaris and Corolla from other manufacturer as full Ev’s same size same price, but still many buyers prefer to go for the hybrid (ice) cars like Corolla, Yaris, especially the private owners who buys cars with intentions to keep them for over 5 years. Owning a full ev without your own charging facility may cause significant inconvenience and put off many potential customers of bev, especially those who drive a lot and need to recharge their cars on daily basis. As long as  petrol is available at the garages there always will be a demand for ice/hybrids, and the hybrids especially should not be completely discontinued but left as other options for buyers who live in remote areas, travel exclusively on motorways between towns, or have no options for home charging. For those even phev are not good enough.  Bev in current technology are not so convenient on long trips as ice/ hybrids., this will be the cases until each parking lot has charging facilities built in. Forced switch to only bev and hfcev only will create a huge demand in used ice sch cars and prices will rocket, it’s already started,.  keep your current Toyotas in good shape, it might proof been a good investment 😉👍Also if we look at the history of automobile in the early years there were prototypes of bev and potential way of power source for the cars but fossil fuel powered cars was the choice of governments and manufacturers for some reasons, financial or other. I will not be surprised if in few years time another technology is discovered and bev been named as diesels are right now and forced switch again towards the new things, history repeats right., Battery gate is very likely and Toyota probably know that and hold on and refuses a complete switch to bev only., clever guys. 

[Broadway One]

Hi all......I have complete faith in the Toyota strategy & that they will switch me to greener pastures over time painlessly apart from the wallet. Thinking dieselgate, there could well be a policy reversal at some point should green hydrogen prove to be a winner; BEV owners beware. Scaling up & distributing hydrogen through a modified plastic lined ex natural gas network could well solve fueling issues across the UK. There is currently a directive that the existing steel gas network should be hydrogen proof by 2030. Gridserve are ahead of the curve in this respect see here:   https://www.gridserve.com/braintree-overview/ 

They have the forecourt space to add hydrogen fuel dispensing facilities as required. However nothing comes without a price. Green hydrogen gas produced by passing electricity from renewables, (wind turbines,hydro) through electrolyzers loses about 30% & can be injected directly into the gas network for heating homes etc. Unfortunately the gas needs to be compressed at 700 bar to liquify for vehicle fuel cells. This is the problem yet to be resolved as the green credentials suffer due to the additional energy required in the process. Quite a challenge 700bar/10,000psi is seriously high pressure & has to be dealt with safely at vehicle refueling & within the on board storage tank. Sure all will be solved in the coming years by Toyota; as you intimate, clever guys.  

  "Thank you Toyota. It’s extremely rare when a large corporation has the moral courage to do what’s right for the human race. I’m looking forward to having an electrolyzer in my garage, hooked up to solar panels to fuel my Toyota fuel cell vehicle. Keep going Toyota, there’s a lot of people that want this vehicle, there is a world that needs this vehicle" 

Barry Wright Lancashire.    

[Luke717]

This news today that Shell plans to install 50,000 on-street charging points by 2025 is good news on building up battery-charging infrastructure in the UK. Aimed at EV owners who don't have driveways, the report says.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/shell-install-50-000-street-230100553.html

I would expect to hear more news of such infrastructure developments in the coming 12 months. Makes me think that hydrogen fuel will remain a niche for much of this decade.