The FCHV fuel cell vehicle

Toyota Motor Corp (TMC)'s FCHV fuel cell vehicle has completed a long-distance road test covering over 500km from Osaka to Tokyo without refuelling.

Last Friday, the Toyota FCHV's initial hydrogen fill-up took the vehicle 560km on Japan's expressways - with the air conditioner turned on the entire trip. The FCHV started the trip from the Osaka Prefectural Government Office in central Osaka City and travelled on the Meishin Expressway, Tomei Expressway and Tokyo Metropolitan Expressway before arriving at the Mega Web amusement park in Tokyo.

TMC spokeswoman Shiori Hashimoto says the 560km road test is a realistic target for the company "when considering the practical use of FCHV".

"Conventional cars are able to make that trip without refuelling for that distance."

She says the latest improvements to the Toyota FCHV enabled it to achieve a single-fuelling cruising distance of about 750km.

The improvements include changes in the Toyota FC Stack fuel cell and in the control system for managing fuel cell output and battery charging/discharging that resulted in 25% greater fuel efficiency than earlier versions, TMC says.

Also, new TMC-developed 70Mpa high-pressure hydrogen tanks are capable of storing about twice the amount of hydrogen stored by the vehicle's previous 35Mpa tanks.

TMC is working with the Japanese government, energy companies and other entities to make fuel cell vehicles a viable alternative.

It says it is making progress in R&D related to, among others, cruising distance, low-temperature starts, durability and reduced costs.

Hashimoto won't reveal how much TMC has invested in advancing its fuel cell vehicle.

The Toyota FCHV is 4.735 metres long, 1.815 metres wide and 1.685 metres high. It weighs 1,880kg and seats five people. Its maximum speed is 155km/h.

The vehicle will be available for test-drives at the 40th Toyota Motor Show at the Makuhari Messe in Chiba City from October 26 to November 11.

Toyota Industries Corp unveiled its fuel cell forklift prototype, the FCHV-F, at CeMAT 2005 in Hannover. The fuel cell hybrid system was developed with TMC, adapting the technology from the fuel cell car prototype (Forkliftaction.com News #230).