Toyota Will Sell New Fuel Cell Module to Other Companies
Toyota has developed a new fuel cell module that it will sell to other manufacturers seeking to lower their carbon footprint. The module will be compatible with a variety of vehicles including buses, trucks, trains, and even ships and stationary generators.
As most automakers turn to battery-electric technology, Toyota is one of the world’s biggest proponents and developers of hydrogen fuel cell technology, which it views as the endgame of zero-emissions mobility thanks to its superior long-term sustainability.
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In its efforts to create a hydrogen-powered society — via selling fuel cell transports like the Mirai sedan and SORA bus, and allowing royalty-free use of some FCEV patent licenses — Toyota says it has learned that “many companies involved in FC products in a variety of industries are looking for FC systems that can be easily adapted to their own products.”
To that end, it created a new fuel cell module that combines the fuel cell stack of the second-generation Mirai with other necessary systems like cooling, power control, hydrogen supply, and air supply. The final product is, by all outward appearances, a box.
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Toyota will sell this box to customers who will be able to choose between either a vertically or horizontally packaged model, outputting 60 or 80 kilowatts, with a voltage range between 400 and 750 volts. It weighs approximately 250 kilograms, or 551 pounds.
Toyota says the module is easy to install, safe, reliable, requires low maintenance, and provides “world-class, top level output density per unit volume.” In other words, if you’re a company getting into the fuel cell market, no need to develop and build your own fuel cell technology from scratch — just buy from Toyota, whose $1-million-an-hour R&D department is already a few years ahead of the curve.
Kurt Verlin was born in France and lives in the United States. Throughout his life he was always told French was the language of romance, but it was English he fell in love with. He likes cats, music, cars, 30 Rock, Formula 1, and pretending to be a race car driver in simulators; but most of all, he just likes to write about it all. See more articles by Kurt.