Toyota are insisting hydrogen cars are the future of motoring

Toyota’s insistence that hydrogen cars are the future reminds us of the video player war of the early eighties. If all electric Tesla, BMW and Nissan (and subsequently Aston Martin, VW and Porsche) models are VHS then hydrogen cars are very much Betamax.

With the improvement in battery range we’ve already had, the argument for a need for in car generation from another fuel source loses credibility. And, as this report in the FT points out, the filling station infrastructure will cost between £2 and £2.7 millions each. All electric cars are conveniently charged at home (at night) or at work. We see fuel stations becoming increasingly redundant and the land on which they sit being put to more productive use.

The electric car revolution may have moved on too far and have too much momentum for hydrogen cars to take hold but we shouldn’t underestimate Toyota and the huge amounts of R&D capital they can throw at a project like this. What is significant is that Toyota has stated that they will not have any petrol or diesel models in their line up by 2050. We think it will happen much faster than that…

Read more about this at the Financial Times.