Topics
Latest
AI
Amazon
Image Credits:Toyota
Apps
Biotech & Health
mood
Image Credits:Toyota
Cloud Computing
commercialism
Crypto
Enterprise
EVs
Fintech
Fundraising
Gadgets
game
Government & Policy
Hardware
Layoffs
Media & Entertainment
Meta
Microsoft
Privacy
Robotics
Security
Social
Space
Startups
TikTok
shipping
Venture
More from TechCrunch
Events
Startup Battlefield
StrictlyVC
Podcasts
television
Partner Content
TechCrunch Brand Studio
Crunchboard
adjoin Us
Who desire a nearly costless car ?
If you hurry , you could get$40,000 offa 2023 Toyota Mirai Limited , a fuel - cadre vehicle that retail for $ 66,000 . When you factor in in the $ 15,000 in free H over six twelvemonth and the available 0 % interest loan , the raw car would take to the woods you just $ 11,000 . That ’s how much it costs Toyota to make the vehicle ’s fuel cell raft alone , accordingto the most recent estimate . You grease one’s palms the fuel cellular telephone , Toyota yield for the rest of the car .
It would be a great deal , if you’re able to detect the atomic number 1 to power it .
Toyota ’s rebate number on the heel of Shell ’s proclamation three weeks ago that it ’s closing its hydrogen woof stations in California . Granted , the oil colour company only had seven to begin with ( five of which had been out of order ) , but that still typify more than 10 % of the Golden State ’s Stations of the Cross , nearly all of which are clustered around Los Angeles and San Francisco . Of those that remain , about a quarter are offline , according to theHydrogen Fuel Cell Partnership .
California was , and still is , the only country where a fuel cell fomite makes logistic sentience — if you have a filling post nearby that ’s operational . And if you squint . And tilted your drumhead .
Just do n’t tell Honda , which lately launch the sentence toconvertits well - selling CR - V into an automotive eq of Frankenstein ’s monster : a plug - in crossbreed , fuel - prison cell vehicle .
The crosswalk ’s 17.7 kWh shelling provides 29 air mile of electric - only range , and once that ’s spend , the front - get on fuel cell starts sipping hydrogen from a brace of carbon - fibre tanks . One tank sits under the rearward seat , the other behind , where it takes up an inordinate amount of trunk space .
Join us at TechCrunch Sessions: AI
Exhibit at TechCrunch Sessions: AI
For all that complexity and via media , what do you get ? A grand total of 270 miles of range , or about the same as a mid - pack electric crossover . Except the EV is n’t restricted to tug around LA or SF .
Now , hydrogen has great potentiality as a fuel source for many parts of a carbon paper - free economy , from industrial passion to steel production and recollective - length shipping . That ’s why so many atomic number 1 startups are sky themselves as zero - carbon answer for those sectors . Electric Hydrogen , which has raised$600 million , is court blade , power , wood alcohol and ammonia production . Advanced Ionics , 2023 ’s Startup Battlefield finalist , is purpose the H from its electrolyzers at ammonia and chemical producer . Hgen isalso stalkingsteel and ammonia water . Sense a tendency ?
Where hydrogen has not found traction is in impel rider cable car and truck . Hydrogen production and distribution is still too scratchy for Mirai or CR - V owners to take road trips . Plus , despite the Mirai ’s fire - sale Leontyne Price , fuel cell are n’t tatty . And if FCEVs are to swerve carbon copy emissions , then they ’ll have to run on unripened atomic number 1 , not the dodo - fuel derived gray hydrogen that dominate today . Until that happens , they ’re onlymarginally betterfor the climate thanadvanced loanblend .
In the near term , it ’s pretty exculpated that zero - emission , light - duty vehicle will need to rely on batteries . So why are Toyota and Honda ( and Hyundai and others ) still so bullish on hydrogen ?
It ’s hard to know what happens inside shut boardrooms , but there are a turn of reasons why automakers might be pushing fuel cells . The misanthropical position is that automakers be intimate that hydrogen infrastructure and fuel - cell vehicle wo n’t be quick for a decade or more , but by bluster the drivetrain ’s vantage ( namely , fast refueling ) , they can convince EV - leery consumers ( and politicians ) to embrace fossil - fuel - powered vehicle in the interim . To some degree , it ’s like they desire to adorn in an image of being mood - conscious and technologically innovative while eschew galvanic vehicle — the most uncouth vision of a crushed - expelling exile futurity .
A more good-hearted view is that the company ca n’t fight their institutional inactivity . Fuel cells might simply excite the companies ’ existing railroad engineer and administrator . Like national combustion engine , they ’re complex and largely mechanical , give by pumps and subway system and relieved by exhaust pipes . Plus , most of the design and fabrication expertise can be kept in house , unlike batteries , which are almost always made by suppliers .
Lastly , auto manufacturer might call up that consumers wo n’t alternate until filling times equalise gas - powered vehicles . While EV point metre continue to drip , they ’ll credibly never strike the five - minute of arc mark like hydrogen can . Automakers might truly believe that an extra five or 10 minutes might be a heap - circuit breaker for most consumers .
Someday , automakers might be rise right . If today ’s hydrogen inauguration come after , and if they ’re able to build enough capacitance to gormandise industrial and shipping requirement , then it might make gumption to initiate betray fuel - cell vehicles to the masses . Will that twenty-four hour period be 10 long time from now ? Or perhaps 20 ? Let ’s put it this way : it ’s not currently on anyone ’s roadmap .
Correction : This clause has been update to speculate the fact that Toyota ’s discount only apply to the Mirai Limited .
