Toyota is taking on Tesla with its new $69,000, hydrogen-powered car

Sure, Elon Musk is giving away Tesla patents, but don’t be surprised if more established manufacturers politely decline his offer. Instead of batteries and electric charging stations, players like General Motors, Mercedes, Honda, and Toyota are focusing their efforts on a very different sort of fuel system: hydrogen. Toyota has just revealed that its first commercial hydrogen fuel cell car, a sedan modeled on the earlier FCV concept, will be ready for launch in the US and Europe in the summer of next year, priced at seven million yen, around $69,000, although exact international pricing has yet to be determined. By that time, the hydrogen car and its refueling network may lag significantly behind Tesla’s all-electric offerings, which currently start at less than $60,000 for the base model Tesla S with lifetime fuel costs included, but Toyota and other hydrogen pioneers believe that they’ll eventually gain the upper hand, thanks to their technology’s promise of greater range and quicker refueling.

Are electric vehicles the future? If you listen to Tesla then they most certainly are, but Toyota doesn’t seem to agree and is instead set to launch a car that runs on hydrogen. It doesn’t have a final name yet with Toyota referring to it as the “FCV Sedan” or “Fuel Cell Sedan,” but it does have a few advantages and disadvantages compared to a full electric vehicle. Originally introduced as a concept car at the Tokyo Motor Show last year, the new Sedan runs on compressed hydrogen. A full tank of hydrogen will give you around a 700 km (435 miles) range and a refill will take about 5 minutes. So it’s comparable to the gas guzzlers we drive today. Toyota also claims the green benefits of using hydrogen, which can be produced using solar and wind power. In the engine it is mixed with oxygen and the only emission is water vapor. The Sedan will cost $69,000 at its April launch in Japan next year with US and European launches following in the summer. So far it compares favorably with a Tesla, but there are a few downsides. For example, Tesla doesn’t charge you for recharging your battery (where as hydrogen refills won’t be free), but it does take longer than a hydrogen top up. Toyota also has a major obstacle to overcome in the form of setting up a network of hydrogen stations for every territory it ships the Sedan to. In that regard, Tesla has a big advantage.