Technology

TOYOTA Fuel Cell Hybrid Vehicle (FCHV) take the road

The Toyota FCHV became the first-ever fuel cell vehicle to be certified by Japan’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, making it available for limited marketing. On December 2, 2002 , Toyota began limited marketing with the delivery of two TOYOTA FCHV’s in the U.S. (University of California, Irvine and Davis compuses) and four in Japan (Cabinet Secretariat; Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry; Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport; Ministry of the Environment). Delivery to corporate purchases and local governments began in August 2003. Based on the FCHV-4 prototype, which accumulated over 130.000 kilometers of testing, the Toyota FCHV is a highly reliable and durable fuel cell hybrid vehicle that delivers a remarkable balance of high efficiency and luxuriously smooth, hushed cruising performance.

At the 2003 New York Auto Show, TMC President Cho unveiled the all-new Prius with THS II, a "Hybrid Synergy Drive" concept that delivers both higher power and greater fuel economy than the previous Prius.

In Search of the ultimate eco-car

Toyota's mission has always been to provide clean and safe products. Thus, the company has positioned the environment as one of its most important issues and has been working toward creating a prosperous society and a world that is comfortable to live in. With this goal in mind, Toyota has been actively developing various new technologies from the perspective of achieving energy security and diversifying energy sources, which is necessitated by the dwindling supply of petroleum resources. For example, in motive power sources for automobiles alone, we have been continuously improving conventional engines and have developed and commercialized lean-burn gasoline engines, direct injection gasoline engines and common rail direct-injection diesel engines, etc.

We have also been modifying engines so that they can use alternative fuels, such as compressed natural gas (CNG), instead of gasoline or light oil, and have been installing these engines in commercially sold vehicles. Toyota has also developed and has been marketing electric vehicles (EV) that use motors for the driving source; hybrid vehicles (HV) that combine an engine and a motor, fusing the advantages of these two power sources; fuel cell hybrid vehicles (FCHV) that use fuel cells (FC) to generate electricity based on a chemical reaction between hydrogen and the oxygen in the air and that supply this electricity to electric motors to produce driving power.