Extended Range Hydrogen Vehicle (or how to go 560 km on one tank of H₂)

One of the biggest knocks against hydrogen as an automotive fuel (at least by the staunchest critics) is the lack of driving range. It appears that's about to change.

A Toyota press release claims that the company's Highlander sport ute based FCHV (Fuel Cell Hybrid Vehicle) traveled 560 km (348 miles) from Osaka to Tokyo, without refueling. A 300-mile range is considered the benchmark, and it's the technological hurdle that engineers have been grappling with for years. Marketing research shows that consumers simply won't buy a vehicle without sufficient driving range. What's telling here is that this voyage was not a staged event. The FCHV made this trip with the A/C running in normal traffic. So what's the difference? Well, several things to be exact. Improvements to the vehicle's fuel cell stack, cell output controls and battery charge/discharge rate have returned better than 25 percent efficiency gains. But perhaps most impressive is the FCHV's increased hydrogen storage capabilities. Overcoming the challenges of onboard hydrogen storage has been an area of aggressive R&D, and Toyota has devised a high pressure hydrogen storage tank that doubles the capacity of that previously attainable. Toyota doesn't say how they did that, but since the pressure (measured in metric Pascal units) was doubled, we imagine it has something to do with manufacturing the tank from super strong composite materials. We suppose the secret ingredients will eventually surface--they always do.

At any rate, this was a big obstacle to clear. And still other challenges--mainly supply infrastructure--are yet to be met, but the reality of practical hydrogen powered personal transportation has taken a major step forward. This is good news, very good news.