Toyota reveals fuel cell bus for 2017, can serve as emergency generator

[nationalize the fed]

Slash Gear, Adam Westlake - Oct 23, 2016

Toyota unveiled its newest hydrogen fuel cell-powered vehicle in Japan this week, but it’s not a four-door sedan or crossover SUV; it’s a bus intended for public transportation. The zero-emission bus uses the same technology as Toyota’s new Mirai fuel cell sedan, and the plan is to have a fleet of 100 or so running in Tokyo in time for the 2020 Summer Olympics.



The fuel cell bus it outfitted with up to 10 tanks that can store 600 liters of highly pressurized H2, in turn allowing it to produce 235 kWh of power, or roughly three times what the battery from Tesla’s Model S outputs. This means the vehicles can basically act as giant, roaming power sources, which is exactly what Toyota had in mind when designing them.

In the event of an emergency situation, Toyota explains, the bus can act as a giant external power generator, powering things like evacuations sites in the aftermath of an earthquake, or supplying electricity for home appliances during widespread power outages.

The buses will first go on sale starting next year, and are part of Toyota’s overall push into the use of hydrogen, which the company “considers to be a powerful source of energy for the future.” snip
Full Article: http://www.slashgear.com/toyota-reveals-fuel-cell-bus-for-2017-can-serve-as-emergency-generator-23461222/



Toyota to Start Sales of Fuel Cell Buses under the Toyota Brand from Early 2017

Toyota City, Japan, October 20, 2016―Toyota Motor Corporation will begin to sell fuel cell buses (FC buses) under the Toyota brand from early 2017. Having already undergone repeated field tests for practical use, the Bureau of Transportation of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government plans to utilize two of these FC buses (model name: Toyota FC Bus) as fixed-route buses.



Toyota plans to introduce over 100 FC buses mainly in the Tokyo area, ahead of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games. In view of this, the FC buses will be sold for the first time in Japan in early 2017, so as to help increase the level of understanding by the general public of the utilization of FC buses as a form of public transportation.

Moreover, in preparation for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games, the number of FC buses being introduced will increase steadily going forward. Together with this, Toyota aims to engage continuously in the diligent development targeted at the expansion of the introduction of the new FC buses from 2018 so as to contribute to the realization of a hydrogen-based society.
Toyota Press Release: http://newsroom.toyota.co.jp/en/detail/13965745/

Toyota fuel cell vehicles are Power Producers. Emergency? Plug your house into your Mirai, or a crisis centre into a Toyota FC bus.

トヨタでは、水素がナンバー1であります

[tinrobot]

1. Mass transit might be a good fit for hydrogen

One of the main problems with hydrogen is lack of infrastructure/fueling stations. Mass transit vehicles tend to run standard routes so they can fuel at one location.

[NNadir]

2. Buses in some cities already run on methane. This being true, why would anyone waste...

...energy, since the vast bulk of the world's hydrogen is made from methane reforming, to make hydrogen to do this?

One can only go crazy for hydrogen if one is unaware of the laws of thermodynamics, or if one believes, like D'Estragnon believed, that the "Godot" of solar or wind electrolytic hydrogen will arrive some day.

They won't. Electrolysis is a thermodynamic nightmare.

The solar and wind industries are huge failures, and every program designed to "invest" in hydrogen will ultimately go the way of cellulosic ethanol. I attended a lecture this evening on the subject of cellulosic ethanol wherein it was noted, that grants to study this formerly hot topic, will not be funded, because it, like the solar and wind industries, proved to be an expensive failure.

A decade or so ago, there was a huge, highly publicized Norwegian scheme to build a wind to hydrogen facility on the island of Utsira. We had oodles of breathless hype about it right here at DU.

What came of it is not huge industrial scale wind farms for making hydrogen all over the world. Instead, what came of it was a few obscure "lessons learned" papers in the scientific literature.

It powered 10 homes, and apparently didn't do a tremendous job. The thermodynamic efficiency was about 20%, meaning that 80% of the energy produced by an already useless industry - the wind industry - was wasted.