Toyota Support For UK H2 Mobility Group

EPSOM, UNITED KINGDOM – Jan 19, 2012: Toyota is pleased to be a founding member of the UK H2 Mobility Group. Commenting on today’s announcement, Didier Leroy, President and CEO of Toyota Motor Europe said:

“In our quest for sustainable mobility Toyota is investing in a range of environmentally friendly technologies to address key issues such as energy supply and transport emissions. Alongside Hybrids, Plug-in Hybrid Electric and pure Electric Vehicles, we believe that Fuel Cell Vehicles, or FCVs, will play an important role in realising a low carbon society.

“We plan to commercialise Fuel Cell Vehicles in 2015 and to achieve this goal a hydrogen charging infrastructure will be required. That is why we welcome the establishment of the UK H2 Mobility Group to confirm the potential for hydrogen as a low carbon fuel in the UK. A close and positive working relationship between vehicle manufacturers, infrastructure companies and Government is of vital importance.

“We look forward to mutual and constructive dialogue with members of UK H2 Mobility from which all participants can mutually benefit. We are strongly motivated to make our contribution to the further enhancement of leading edge environmentally friendly technologies in the UK”.

Toyota Environmental Leadership in Sustainable Low Emissions Transport.
Toyota is one of the world’s leading automotive companies and has a proud history of environmental leadership. It firmly believes that it must continue to make the environment a priority management issue for the automotive industry, if the automobile is to remain a positive force for progress. Only in this way can automakers successfully meet the challenges of the future, including CO2 reduction, air quality and energy diversity.

Toyota strives for zero emissions at every stage of a vehicle’s life cycle, from initial research and development, through design and customer use through to final disposal. Now more than ever it is committed to developing advanced and innovative technologies to make the break from dependence on oil, which is key to securing a low-carbon society.

Toyota’s strategy of developing greener vehicles involves the simultaneous exploration of a wide variety of technological solutions including Hybrids, Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles, pure Electric Vehicles and Fuel Cell Vehicles. These different applications of full hybrid technology will each play their role and co-exist in the future, in line with Toyota’s principle of “the right car at the right place at the right time”.

Toyota has been researching fuel cell technology and hydrogen storage for almost 20 years and in 2002 its first generation of Fuel Cell Vehicles underwent field tests in Japan and the US. Most recently it revealed its FCV-R Concept (Tokyo Motor Show 2011), a vision for a practical saloon-type fuel cell vehicle that is scheduled for launch in 2015. (http://www.toyota-global.com/innovation/concept_cars/fcv-r.html)

Within Toyota’s broad-based hybrid power strategy Fuel Cell Vehicles will provide a practical solution for long distance driving and for powering larger sized vehicles, Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles for mixed ranges and pure electric systems will be best suited to short journey, urban driving. For more information visit www.toyota-global.com.