One of Toyota's more distinctive vehicles on display at last month's Detroit Auto Show was the FCV-R fuel-cell concept.
Joining electric, plug-in hybrids and regular hybrids on Toyota's green car roster, the forward-thinking Japanese automaker is clearly keen to explore every avenue.
Toyota has released what it calls a "tranquil and harmonic" video to illustrate the benefits of its FCV-R.
There's not a lot of actual car until near the end of the video, instead focusing on the environmental relationship of oxygen, hydrogen, and water when the two combine. And manta rays, which may or may not have been an inspiration for some of the FCV-R's internal and external styling cues.
While hydrogen isn't perfect, it's good to see Toyota is committed to exploring further green transportation methods beyond the more traditional gas-electric hybrid route. The FCV-R shows clear similarities to Toyota's other green cars like the Prius, while being different enough to have its own identity.
Since Detroit there have been no new details on the FCV-R, but we do know the fuel cells are mounted low in the body, a fact backed-up by Toyota's video, which also shows us a brief glimpse of where the high-pressure hydrogen tanks are stored.
We also know that Toyota claims a range of 435 miles for the concept, and Toyota hopes to put it on sale by 2015 for around $50K. Hopefully by then, hydrogen might be a more viable option for passenger vehicles than it is today.
+++++++++++
