Toyota recently announced that it has figured out a way to bring the price of their hydrogen car due for 2015 to about $50,000. This figures cut the costs of the vehicles by as much as 90%.
One of the top executives of Toyota disclosed during a meeting of the National Hydrogen Association that the first hydrogen car of Toyota will take the form of a sedan. He hints that it will have the same range as our usual petrol-powered cars today but will carry some extra cost due to the technology that will be used.
A few years ago, the price of a fuel cell hydrogen powered vehicle was estimated to be at around $1 million. The Japanese car manufacturer was able to trim down a big chunk of the price by using less platinum and lowering the production cost of the films of the fuel tank and fuel cell. Right now, Toyota uses around 30 grams of platinum per fuel-cell vehicle but like General Motors, they also plan to cut this amount by to thirds. The price of the hydrogen vehicle will also of course follow the economies of scale which dictates that mass production will eventually bring down its price.
