Toyota: Fuel Cell Car Prices to Reach Parity with Hybrids by 2025
Toyota Motor Corp. predicts fuel cell-powered cars will cost the same as an equivalent hybrid model by 2025.
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Toyota Motor Corp. predicts fuel cell-powered cars will cost the same as an equivalent hybrid model by 2025.
Currently the carmaker’s lone fuel cell model, the Mirai midsize sedan, costs more than twice as much as the smaller Prius hybrid, depending on region and options. Costs are expected to come down with the launch of Toyota’s next-generation fuel cell stack in the early 2020s and through economies of scale as sales of fuel cell vehicles increase.
Production of the Mirai is projected to jump from the current 3,000 units per year to 10 times that volume by 2025, Naomichi Hata, general manager of new business planning for Toyota, tells Autocar.
Toyota took the wraps off a fuel cell concept vehicle (pictured) at this week’s Tokyo auto show. The vehicle, dubbed the “Fine-Comfort Ride,” has an estimated driving range of 1,000 km (629 miles), which is 50% greater than the Mirai’s.
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