Toyota revealed its newest hydrogen fuel cell-powered vehicle in Japan, but it is not a four-door sedan or crossover SUV; it is a bus intended for public transportation. The zero-emission bus uses the same tech as Toyota’s new Mirai fuel cell sedan. The plan is to have a fleet of 100 or so running in Tokyo in time for the 2020 Summer Olympics. The plan is for the new buses to enter into the service initially as fixed-route buses in the country’s capital city before then being rolled out elsewhere.
As for its design, the bus also takes visual cues from Mirai, such as the boomerang-shaped headlamp fixtures. It may not be as sleek-looking at Mirai, but the fuel-cell bus will likely help cut emissions from Japan’s public-transit fleet, and it can also haul a lot more passengers than the Mirai can.
fuel cell bus
One of the more notable things about this fuel-cell buses is that they’ll deliver an electric supply of up to 235kWh. That amount of energy could come in handy in a certain circumstances, such as the emergencies – the bus could power a building being used to evacuate survivors from a disaster. This bus can also be used to power home appliances.
The fuel cell bus it outfitted with up to 10 tanks which can store 600 liters of highly pressurized H2, in turn enabling it to produce 235 kWh of power, or roughly 3 times what the battery from Tesla’s Model S outputs. This means that the vehicles can basically act as giant, roaming power sources, that’s exactly what Toyota had in mind when designing them.
As some background, Toyota has began testing of the current hydrogen fuel cell bus design last year. Reports are that they may have also begun testing hydrogen-fuel-cell semi-trucks.
