Monday 2nd December 2002

Toyota delivered its first two “market-ready” hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles (FCHVs, in the company’s shorthand) to researchers at the University of California (UC). Since 1997, Toyota had been providing research money to UC scientists and engineers who studied the problems associated with “advanced transportation systems” like fuel-cell vehicles. With their new fleet of FCHVs, the researchers finally had a chance to test out their theories. Unlike the Toyota Prius, which has a petrol-electric hybrid engine, FCHVs use a hydrogen fuel-cell system that generates electricity by combining hydrogen with oxygen. That electricity powers the car’s motor and charges its batteries. As a result, the vehicle creates no environmentally unfriendly byproducts: its only emission is water vaporu.