Toyota to Begin Leasing New Fuel Cell Hybrid Vehicle
29 August 2008
Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC) will begin leasing its new fuel cell hybrid vehicle model, the FCHV-adv (earlier post), to Japan’s Ministry of the Environment on 1 September.
TMC also plans to lease the FCHV-adv to other national government entities, local governments and companies in or related to the energy industry. Lease terms are ¥840,000 yen including tax (US$7,730) per month for 30 months.
The FCHV-adv is equipped with a newly designed higher-performance Toyota fuel cell stack. The FCHV-adv provides a 25% improvement in fuel efficiency compared to the FCHV through improved fuel cell unit performance, enhancements to the regenerative braking system, and a reduction in energy consumed by the auxiliary systems.
Equipped with TMC-developed 70 Mpa (10,000 psi) high-pressure hydrogen tanks, the FCHV-adv has a range of approximately 830 km (516 miles) based on the Japanese 10-15 cycle on a single fueling—more than double that of the older FCHV.
This leasing, as well as TMC’s participation in other cooperative efforts with the government, the energy industry and other parties concerned is aimed at helping to bring about the widespread use of fuel cell vehicles, according to the company.
So it costs approximately $95K / year to lease.
I wonder how many other governments will step up to the plate. You could practically buy a new Tesla each year for the cost of leasing one of these.
I'm all for the future, but I fear this may not be it.
Posted by: mahonj | 29 August 2008 at 08:49 AM
Cut them some slack. This is for testing for heaven's sake.
Since the Tesla and this car are at the developmental stage (not ready for mass production of 1M units per year), the takeaway is that its still going to be ~4-5yrs before these things are going to be available to the non-enthusiast.
Posted by: TM | 29 August 2008 at 09:05 AM
"I'm all for the future..."
Not all possible futures may be good ones.
Posted by: sjc | 29 August 2008 at 11:37 PM