One of the reasons Toyota has set its sights on the year 2015 is related to the expense of building the fuel cells themselves: the automaker predicts the cost to drop to 1/20th the amount in 2008 by 2015 through advances in materials and the actual construction processes.
"We could expect a fuel cell vehicle to retail at about 100,000 euros ($138,000) in Europe," said Alain Uyttenhoven, Toyota's European Vice President for Product Planning & Marketing.
Fuel cell vehicles come as part of Toyota's efforts to meet increasingly stringent emissions standards in Europe and elsewhere. Next year, the automaker will offer a plug-in hybrid version of the Prius that betters the 1.3-mile pure electric range of the normal Prius with a 14.3-mile range.
"Our research shows that more than 80 percent of urban daily trips are less than the 20km (12.4 miles)," Uyttenhoven said.
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1.'Toyota aims to...' view
