2014 Toyota Prius Four on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Toyota's Bob Carter says far fewer stations needed in shift from gas to hydrogen

Toyota's Bob Carter has been talking about green cars for years, but it's only been recently that his comments have really caught widespread attention thanks to his disparaging remarks about electric vehicle supporters like Elon Musk and Carlos Ghosn and optimism about hydrogen. Speaking at the opening of the Chicago Auto Show this morning, Carter said that Toyota has claimed the "pole position on CAFE," thanks to its deep hybrid bench. The company's green car cred will continue to grow because of its upcoming hydrogen fuel cell car, due out next year. Carter is relentlessly optimistic: "I truly believe fuel cells will fundamentally change how we feel about transportation," he said. The reason, Carter said, is that a hydrogen infrastructure will be easier to install than people think. He referenced a study conducted by the University of California (which we've heard about before) that found that California would only need 68 hydrogen stations to refuel the roughly 10,000 H2 vehicles that Toyota hopes to sell in by 2016 or so. That's a lot more than the nine that exist today, but the state has already approved funding for 20 new stations by 2015 and then up to 100 by 2024. Then he said this: "If every vehicle in California ran on hydrogen, we could meet refueling logistics with only 15 percent of the nearly 10,000 gasoline stations currently operating in the state." "We could meet refueling logistics with only 15 percent of gasoline stations currently operating in CA" - Bob Carter This made us wonder: if the refueling time and range are roughly equivalent between hydrogen and gasoline – Toyota's hydrogen car is supposed to be able to go 300 miles on a five-minute fill-up - then why has the market decided that there should be 10,000 gas stations in California and why would 1,500 be sufficient for hydrogen? "If the locations are optimized," he said, "we don't need 10,000 stations." For example, at major intersections, instead of three gas stations, you'd really just need a single hydrogen one. "There are a lot of questions about the infrastructure, but it's coming. ... It's a hurdle that we've got to climb but it's not as steep as some may imagine." Toyota's Mike Michaels, the national manager, media and public affairs at Toyota Motor Sales, then stepped in to point out that there are gas stations closing and admitted that there might be too many gas stations in California.

Recharge Wrap-up: Mazda, Toyota earn environmental awards

Electric mobility nonprofit Drive Oregon has launched a campaign to invite the electric car industry to perform testing in the state. The campaign tells companies to, "Test Drive the Future in the Living Lab," citing Oregon's density of EV owners and charging infrastructure, varied terrain and climate, funding opportunities, and the state's technological reputation as the "Silicon Forest." Plus, as Drive Oregon Executive Director Jeff Allen, points out, "if you really screw things up here, it doesn't make as much noise as it would in California." Already, Jaguar Land Rover has announced plans for an Innovation Incubator in Oregon. Read more at Green Car Reports. Mazda's new paint system has won the Prime Minister's Award in the category of Manufacturing and Production Process at the 6th Monodzukuri Nippon Grand Award ceremony. Mazda's Aqua-tech paint system significantly reduces emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and CO2. The Aqua-tech system uses a water-based color basecoat and a urethane clear coat to reduce VOC emissions by 57 percent. It consolidates the painting process and reduces energy in paint-booth air-conditioning and flash-off processes to reduce energy consumption. It also allows Mazda to create such colors as Soul Red, which looks quite nice on the MX-5 Miata. Read more at Green Car Congress, and learn all about the Aqua-tech paint process from Mazda. The Toyota Mirai has received a 2015 Environmental Award from Austrian automobile club ARBO. The hydrogen fuel cell car took the prize in the category of Current Innovative Environmental Technologies. "At Toyota, we believe that various technologies will co-exist, ranging from EVs to hybrids to the most innovative of all, the fuel cell car," says Gerald Killmann, Vice President R&D of Toyota Motor Europe, in a comment thanking ARBO. "Mirai is a core component of Toyota's vision for a sustainable mobility society, one that allows us all to move freely in comfort and safety in an environmentally friendly, sustainable manner." Read more in the press release below. Vienna, Austria- November 5th - The Austrian automobile club ARBO* (Auto-Motor und Radfahrerverbund Osterreiche) has awarded the Toyota Mirai with the "2015 Environmental Award". This Award was received during a gala ceremony held yesterday in Vienna, where the Toyota Mirai was awarded in the category of "Current Innovative Environmental Technologies" . The jury consisted of ARBO automotive experts.

Autoblog Podcast #414

Episode #414 of the Autoblog Podcast is here, and this week, Dan Roth, Steven Ewing, and Seyth Miersma discuss the new 2015 Shelby GT and go over the finer points of Elon Musk's recent speech during the Detroit Auto Show. Of course, the podcast starts with what's in the garage and finishes up with some of your questions, and for those of you who hung with us live on our UStream channel, thanks for taking the time. Check out the rundown with times for topics, and you can follow along down below with our Q&A. Thanks for listening! Autoblog Podcast #414 Topics 2015 Shelby GT Elon Musk speech in Detroit In The Autoblog Garage 2015 Lexus LX 570 2015 Dodge Charger Pursuit 2015 Toyota Prius C 2015 Lincoln Navigator Hosts: Dan Roth, Steven Ewing, Seyth Miersma Runtime: 01:17:58 Rundown Intro and Garage - 00:00 2015 Shelby GT – 32:41 Elon Musk – 41:33 Q&A - 54:48 Get The Podcast UStream – Listen live on Mondays at 10 PM Eastern at UStream iTunes – Subscribe to the Autoblog Podcast in iTunes RSS – Add the Autoblog Podcast feed to your RSS aggregator MP3 – Download the MP3 directly Feedback Email – Podcast at Autoblog dot com Review the show in iTunes Podcasts Dodge Lexus Lincoln Toyota toyota prius c shelby lincoln navigator lexus lx