Toyota banks on Olympic halo for humble bus to keep hydrogen dream alive

Hydrogen explodes, so does petrol and is far more dangerous in a crash. Hydrogen is so light it vanishes in to the upper atmosphere where as petrol is heavier and hangs around to catch fire and the vapour turns in to a fuel air explosive, but hey Hydrogen explodes, let’s reference the only hydrogen related accident anyone can remember in the last century.

nandakandamanda is right, we need parallel alternatives, battery ev’s have problems which may or may not be overcome and the batteries are large, heavy, have a limited life way shorter than the vehicles, are very costly to replace and the chemicals they require are in limited supply not to mention the serious environmental destruction in mining them and the social costs in the countries they come from. Not as environmentally friendly as many claim. And that doesn’t even take in to account the huge increase in electrical supply, generation and network increases needed to cope with all these batteries if they replace internal combustion engines, and the environmental cost of this.

Buses for the Beijing Winter Olympics 2022? Why not?

If the Mirai were a little cheaper I would buy one today. All-electric is an impossible dream. We need parallel alternatives. Wishing Toyota the best of luck with this.

Why not Let the Japan teams ride around upon those buses.... it may provide more confidence to the locals upon the Technology.... or not.

Hindenberg: Ja, hydrogen explodes. Vhat took you so long to realize?

Toyota said the number of fuel cell buses for the Beijing Olympics has not been decided...

Hydrogen fuel cell technology must be pretty awesome to allow people to travel back in time to 2008.

China is actually moving ahead a lot faster... and has shown in the past that they can get infrastructure done pretty quickly,

There you have it, folks: authoritarian Communist states with command economies and national industrial policies that promote self-sufficiency are the way of the future, folks. Time to bury our "free market" and get with the game.

Hydrogen makes more sense for buses and local delivery trucks that always fill up at the depot. It's the same as those LPG taxis you get in Japan. If this is replacing a diesel bus in a built-up area, it should be celebrated, because they are big causes of pollution.

If hydrogen from hydrolysis can get 10-15% more efficient, hydrogen could be a real goer. Maybe nanotech will get us there.

What happens in a disaster where the hydrogen refueling infrastructure breaks down?

The same thing that happens with gasoline (or water or food): rationing.

(Also, if hydrogen is produced locally, using renewables, the problem will only be local.)

What happens in a disaster where the hydrogen refueling infrastructure breaks down?

Much better for Toyota to invest more in solar charging for electric cars

... reflect insufficient refueling stations

this should read reflect insufficient government commitment.

But so long as the hydrogen produced comes from renewable energy sources - it's a great solution for replacing dirty fossil fuel transportation.