By Stas Margaronis

Toyota is pioneering the path toward hydrogen fuel cell/zero emissions transportation. From the passenger car, the Mirai, to the heavy-duty truck, Toyota is demonstrating the viability, versatility and scalability of the hydrogen fuel cell powertrain.

Toyota has won approval to build its first zero emission auto terminal at the Port of Long Beach powered by hydrogen fuel cells. The current terminal will be renovated and should be operational in about eighteen months, according to a Toyota spokesman.

Russ Koble, Toyota environmental and advanced technology communications manager, said that the auto maker will construct a 2.3 Mega Watt (MW) power plant at the Port of Long Beach: “This is the first zero emission fuel cell driven power plant that Toyota operates anywhere in the world.”

Toyota operates a marine terminal at the Port where new automobiles are off-loaded from ships, processed and transported off-site via truck or rail. The company is proposing to streamline its operations by demolishing existing office, car washing, fueling, auto body and other facilities and consolidating many of these functions into a single facility. Plans for the facility will add the fuel-cell power plant and a new fueling station that includes pumps dedicated to hydrogen.

Koble said the fuel cell power plant will be so efficient that, “We will sell power back to the grid.”

The 2.3 MW powerplant will provide the following benefits:

  1. Electricity- enough to power the terminal – and sell power back to the grid
  2. Water- a byproduct of the power plant- will be used to wash cars at the terminal
  3. Heat-another by-product- will generate necessary heat for the facility.
  4. Hydrogen- fueling the power plant – will also be used to fuel the Toyota Mirai as well as hydrogen-powered trucks operating at the terminal.

The Toyota Mirai was introduced in 2015 and so far the Japanese auto maker has sold over 3,600 cars mostly in California. The car has a range of 312 miles for one tank of hydrogen. The Mirai generates zero emissions but is still expensive compared to conventional gasoline powered cars.

There are 36 hydrogen stations in California for drivers to fill up their cars and more are planned.

Koble said that the newest Mirai has a price beginning at $59,000 but could be leased for $349 per month. Filling up the Mirai’s tank with hydrogen will cost around $75 compared to about $57 for a similar size tank of gasoline in California.

To mitigate the nearly $20 premium on hydrogen fuel, Toyota offers customers who lease or buy Mirais a $15,000 fuel credit.

Koble says that the price of the Mirai is coming down as more cars are sold and so the purchase price of the cars will continue to decline.  At the same time the cost of hydrogen fuel is also going down as more consumers buy hydrogen fuel.