Cars and Trees

Toyota’s vice president Matasami Takimoto, asked about the company’s plans on releasing new zero-emission technologies at a recent shareholders’ meeting in Aichi Japan, said that they have plans to release a fuel cell-based car in 2015, not disclosing further details.

It seems like Toyota is touting with fuel cell technology since 2002, when they released a limited version of the hybrid Prius powered by a fuel cell. Storage technologies have not been encouraging the development of fuel cell technology, because of their inability to store hydrogen at the desired pressures and in the desired quantities, and because of their prohibitive price. Still, recent discoveries found that carbonized chicken feathers are a good starting point for making hydrogen storage much more viable, lowering the price of a tank to an incredible value of only $200. Carbon nanotube or metal hydride-based storages are ranging from $50,000 to $5.5 million. So, Toyota might just have a point this time.