Could hydrogen fuel cell cars be commonplace in the near future? They could if Toyota has something to say about it. 

Toyota president Akio Toyoda said that the company’s next step will be hydrogen fuel cell cars and the company head believes Toyota could mass market the vehicles some time in the not-so-distant future.

The company started work on the fuel cell technology two decades ago but because of the high cost of manufacturing, the cars were nearly $1 million each. Now Toyota is focused on more economical technology, in fact, their new hydrogen fuel cell car, the Mirai will be available in Europe for $62,000.

“This is not an alternative to a gasoline vehicle,” Scott Samuelsen, an engineer and director of the National Fuel Cell Research Center at the University of California at Irvine told Business Week. “This is a quantum step up.”

Hydrogen fuel cell cars run on hydrogen gas rather than gasoline so they emit heat and water rather than greenhouse gases. They can go 300 miles before needing to be refueled. While the cars look similar to traditional cars on the outside, they contain a fuel cell stack that converts hydrogen gas and oxygen into electricity to drive the electric motor. The cars can fuel in less than five minutes.

“The automobile industry can contribute to the sustainable growth of Earth itself,” Akio told Business Week. “At Toyota, we are looking out 50 years and even more decades into the future. I do believe that [the] fuel-cell vehicle is the ultimate environmentally friendly car.”

But as with EVs, the main drawback to the technology is a lack of infrastructure in place to refuel. There are currently nine fueling stations in California and 13 in place nationwide. And it becomes a battle over which technology deserves more funding. Additionally, while you can charge EVs at home, that’s not possible with hydrogen fuel cell vehicles.

Some experts also dispute whether or not fuel cell technology is good for the environment. Elon Musk said at a conference in Tokyo that since U.S. hydrogen production comes from burning natural gas, hydrogen fuel cell vehicles are indirectly burning fossil fuels.

Akio Toyoda’s response: “There’s a high possibility that there will be many sources of hydrogen in the future, such as solar energy and even waste.”

Undoubtedly, these technologies face challenges for a society still addicted to oil but when these great minds come together, there’s hope that in the future we won’t be focused on fossil fuels. But rather, on modes of transportation that don’t emit planet warming greenhouse gas emissions and don’t involve destroying ecosystems. All in an effort to find a fuel source that beyond being dirty is downright out-of-date.

What do you think? What will your morning commute look like in a few decades? Are you excited about the technology ahead?

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Hydrogen fuel cell cars that run on human waste? This you’ve got to see.

Electric cars are all the rage right now, and with good reason. While they’re not entirely emission-free (most are still powered by electricity from fossil fuels) they’re a long-overdue step in the right direction when it comes to personal transportation.

Still, there are those who think we can do better. As EcoSalon reported previously, hydrogen fuel cell cars could make EVs obsolete before they even have a chance to go mainstream. Hydrogen is the simplest and most abundant element in the universe. Instead of a big dirty engine, or heavy battery, hydrogen-powered vehicles have a fuel cell, which converts hydrogen to electricity, giving off only heat and water as byproducts.

Now, designers of fuel cell cars are looking to close the loop even tighter. California’s Orange County Sanitation District is testing out new technology that they claim will be able to power the forthcoming Hyundai Tucson–a fuel cell car–with nothing but the unmentionables human beings flush down the toilet every day. That’s right, we’re talking about poop.

The technology “can make hydrogen cheaply by processing solid waste and feeding it to microbes that turn it into methane. The fuel will be pumped to local stations, making it possible for Hyundai to put its car on the streets,” reports Fast Company. And if the initial stages of the project are successful, we could soon see poo-powered fuel cell cars popping up around the nation.

According to Hyundai, more than 90,000 people have expressed interest in the fuel cell cars, but for now, the poop-powered vehicles will only be available in a limited area around Los Angeles.

“We want to make sure with this car that customers have pretty easy access to hydrogen,”Jim Trainor, a spokesperson for Hyundai, told Fast Company. “If there were more hydrogen stations, we could have more customers. We’ll plan more when the infrastructure’s in place.”

For those lucky enough to live within driving distance of said infrastructure, buying or leasing one of Hyundai’s fuel cell cars will come with an extra perk: free poop. Well, you know, fuel made from poop.

“We want them to have a good experience. We don’t want them waiting for fuel, we don’t want them driving all over for fuel,” Trainor told Fast Company. “We’ll handle paying for the fuel, because there are also issues with what it costs–a lot of the hydrogen fuel cell stations right now just aren’t capable of charging what you’d pay for gas.”

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Image via Hyundai

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Will hydrogen fuel cell cars eclipse EVs before they’ve even had a chance to go mainstream?

We’ve been waiting for electric vehicles (EVs) to replace gas guzzlers for more than a hundred years. Literally. The first electric motor was installed in a car way back in the 1800s. Yet a deeply entrenched oil and gas industry has kept this technology at bay for decades. Now, at long last, major car manufacturers are releasing plug-in vehicles that are both efficient and somewhat affordable. But the switch to EVs is still taking longer than many anticipated.

Now, some believe that we will never see an electric vehicle revolution, not because the technology isn’t sound, but because it will quickly be made obsolete by something even better: hydrogen fuel cell cars.

A major complaint about electric vehicles (at least among the eco-conscious) is that they’re still dependent on a power grid that runs off fossil fuels. Even though the EVs themselves aren’t belching toxic fumes into the air, their batteries are powered by the same coal-fired and nuclear power plants that fuel our homes. When you consider the entire life-cycle of ownership, they’re not as green as you’d think.

Hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles harvest power from another, much cleaner source. Hydrogen is the simplest and most abundant element in the universe. Instead of a big dirty engine, or heavy battery, hydrogen vehicles have a fuel cell, which converts hydrogen to electricity, giving off only heat and water as byproducts. For a long time, these true zero-emissions vehicles were the stuff of myth and legend in automotive circles, but now, two major car companies are moving to bring hydrogen fuel cell vehicles to market within the next few years. Take a peek.

Hyundai Tucson (pictured above)

According to Hyundai, “The Tucson Fuel Cell represents the next generation of electric vehicles – those that create their own electricity, on-board, from hydrogen.” Unlike many EVs, the Tucson Fuel Cell has a driving range up to 300 miles and is capable of full refueling in under 10 minutes. Starting in Spring 2014, the company plans to lease this next-generation Tucson Fuel Cell vehicle to customers in the Los Angeles/Orange County region for $499 per month, including unlimited free hydrogen refueling and At Your Service Valet Maintenance at no extra cost. That means if something goes wrong, a Hyundai tech will come out to your house to fix it.

Images: Hyundai and Honda

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