Toyota’s North American chief “bullish” on fuel cell cars

Preparing to sell Camry-sized hydrogen sedans next year, Toyota Motor Corp's North American chief executive, Jim Lentz, said he was ''bullish'' about advances in the company's fuel cell system and wanted more US supply of the cars built in Japan, Bloomberg reports.

Toyota, the world's largest seller of hybrid-electric Prius, is to sell the yet to be named four-door model in California in 2015,  Japan and Europe. The performance, packaging and other attributes of the car would generate demand, Lentz said yesterday.

''After we've seen the product, understand its range, its driving dynamics, its refueling, we're a lot more bullish than Japan -- probably about five-fold more bullish,'' Lentz said in an interview at The Wall Street Journal's ECO:nomics conference in Santa Barbara, California. ''It's just a question of how many can be produced now.''

The new hydrogen cars to be introduced by Toyota, Hyundai Motor Co and Honda Motor Co are due this year and next. According to the companies the vehicles would match the zero-emissions of battery-powered vehicles and offer greater driving range and faster refueling.

California, which has the most stringent US emissions rules has drawn up plans for a statewide network of hydrogen fuel stations, and is expected to be the primary battleground for the vehicles.

The state with its massive market and tough clean-air rules, has emerged as the laboratory for new low-emission technologies. Meanwhile,  the Prius has gained the status of an unofficial state car even as plug-in electrics and hybrids like the Nissan Leaf and Chevrolet Volt are being increasingly seen in the state's sprawling urban areas.

Unlike battery-powered models like the Tesla S, which store electricity in their battery, fuel cell cars generate it on board through a chemical reaction between hydrogen and water.

Plug-in and hybrid electrics are not truly zero-emission, as the electricity they use to charge their batteries is generated in a power plant fuelled by coal or nuclear energy in most cases. Also hybrids and some plug-ins come with back-up gas engines which are not very different from the gas engines in traditional cars.