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Toyota Names Upcoming Hydrogen Fuel Cell Car

Posted by samzenpus on from the a-car-by-any-other-name-would-drive-as-clean dept.

An anonymous reader writes Toyota has announced the name of its new hydrogen-powered car: Mirai, which means "future" in Japanese. Toyota CEO Akio Toyoda said: "Today, we are at a turning point in automotive history. A turning point where a four-door sedan can travel 300 miles on a single tank of hydrogen, can be refueled in under five minutes and emit only water vapor."

4 of 194 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Not For Me by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Remember, Hydrogen is really just a battery when you think about it

    How many batteries can be completely recharged in under five minutes?

  2. Re:How do I refill it? by NMBob · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I think he meant that he was uncertain about the name.

  3. Re:No, really -they don't say how. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    http://www.nature.com/news/199...

    Furthermore, hydrogen gas is a bitch to store, as it can permeate out through metal. So, not only do you have a the inefficiency of electrolyzing water, you have to do "something" to try to keep it from escaping. Probably substantial compression, but then that has its own set of issues. You can crack hydrogen gas from of natural gas, but that's retarded if you're intending to create a vehicle fuel.

    We should just use hydrocarbons. They are an excellent energy store by every metric I can think of, especially compared to alternative technologies.

  4. Re:How do I refill it? by jo_ham · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Yes, but batteries aren't a cryogenic liquid that embrittles everything it touches. Ooops.

    You think hydrogen stored for use in commercial fuel cell vehicles is stored cryogenically.

    Cute.

    I can see why you didn't log in.