If you build a new cell phone, you desperately need software developers to build applications for your platform.
Well he same is true for the auto industry, they have an intimate and beholden relationship to the oil industry. You don't breach that relationship unless you are forced to do so by external forces, customer demands, government regulations and that's about it. So for years the talk of moving to green vehicles has been out there, and Auto manufacturers have built many of these green vehicles. Toyota actually stopped development after the 5th generation of prototype hydrgen fuel-cell vehicles, the fourth generation vehicles have been under-wraps at the University of California Davis and Irvine campuses since 2002. You have to admit it's hard to continue with new technology when the government of your largest international market can create a reason to go to War for Oil, invade an over-throw an adversarial regime in a major OPEC country to restore a long-term commitment to the petroleum market place. Every business depends on warm and open relations with the governments where their markets exist. When nations launch a campaign against your products, your future can be doomed, just ask the French wine makers, or businesses of South Africa.
So here is Toyota, stepping forward with the bold press release to "Express a desire to introduce Fuel cell vehicles in 2015" This is a public plea to gather consumer support for the idea. It's a bold move for Toyota to make such a proposal, especially after the Oil Industry just persuaded the interested parties to issue a series of press releases expressing that all such vehicles would not be released until 2016 (add some links here, illustrating the colluding parties) What can we say, but WAY TO GO TOYOTA! This press release coincides with Toyota's announcement of a joint venture with Tesla, and other vehicle technology that cuts the oil industry out of the ca$h flow.
It's tough to manage a monopoly
You have to understand the dilemma of a monopoly holder, you feel compelled to spend billions to prevent anyone from entering your exclusive market space. You stay so focused on the luxury of your sole supplier status that your view is myopic. The number crunchers tell them that they must save the vast amounts of future revenue streams that would be impacted by new market entrants. So narrow minded, they think petroleum will go the way of the horse and buggy. Nonsense, first of all, and second, they are today more horses than in the year 1900, at most the Petroleum market will focus on what they do best.
Can you imagine if the canned food industry spent so much effort to keep out refrigerated box cars, frozen foods, and the invasive freeze dried back-packer producers.
The canned food industry is thriving today, we could not get by without them, yet we also enjoy refrigerated delivery of fresh foods as well as frozen. The Petroleum industry just needs to relax, and realize that we will have buyers for every drop of oil they can extract from the ground and bring to market.
Don't fret the perceived competition from new players. Be confident that the market demand for energy will continue to grow and consume all that each supplier can produce. Enjoy your monopoly, save the marketing dollars and payout a nice dividend to the share holders.
That said the article below is full of Myths create by the opposition to scare the public away from new passenger vehicle drive systems. My favorite is the need for a new Hydrogen infrastructure. Nonsense, the electrical grid can supply energy distribution to 20,000 new cars per years easier than the 1,000,000 to 2,000,000 new homes that come online to the grid each year. Sure 20 to 50 % of electricity is generated by coal, and yes that brings them into the auto refueling market, relax big oil. And for anyone that want to go all green and not add to the electrical grid load you can do that today -> http://holdcongressaccountable.blogspot.com/2010/02/hydrogen-infrastructure-myth-is-dead.html
Home > Consumer News > Rides
Kicking Tires
Toyota wants $50,000 hydrogen sedan by 2015
 The Toyota Fuel Cell Hybrid Vehicle based on the Highlander SUV uses hybrid technology developed for the Toyota Prius. |
Toyota wants to introduce a hydrogen fuel-cell sedan to its lineup by 2015 with a sticker price of around $50,000. The car will have zero emissions and the range and refueling time of a gas-powered vehicle, giving it an advantage over an electric car.
Toyota says the price is possible because the cost of making fuel-cell vehicles has fallen by 90% in the past decade, and the automaker says it can save more money by cutting the amount of platinum used in the fuel cells and moving from low-volume assembly to mass production. Originally, building a hydrogen fuel-cell vehicle cost Toyota roughly $1 million.
"Our target is, we don't lose money with introduction of the vehicle. Production cost should be covered within the price of the vehicle," Yoshihiko Masuda, Toyota's managing director for advanced autos, told Bloomberg News.
Of course, customers have to buy that vehicle as well. The prospects of a $50,000 car with limited options for refueling seem suspect right now. It's possible that by 2015 some kind of bare-bones hydrogen infrastructure could develop in some regions of the country, but even if Toyota gets the cost of a vehicle down to $50,000, many hurdles remain before hydrogen adoption begins on any significant scale.
Even Masuda admitted that the market for the fuel-cell sedan would at first be "small, but with some support." GM, Mazda and Honda have been on the hydrogen path for some time, but the nearly non-existent infrastructure in the U.S. has prevented retail thoughts ... along with the nearly $1 million cost for their vehicles as well.
Toyota says the price is possible because the cost of making fuel-cell vehicles has fallen by 90% in the past decade, and the automaker says it can save more money by cutting the amount of platinum used in the fuel cells and moving from low-volume assembly to mass production. Originally, building a hydrogen fuel-cell vehicle cost Toyota roughly $1 million.
"Our target is, we don't lose money with introduction of the vehicle. Production cost should be covered within the price of the vehicle," Yoshihiko Masuda, Toyota's managing director for advanced autos, told Bloomberg News.
Of course, customers have to buy that vehicle as well. The prospects of a $50,000 car with limited options for refueling seem suspect right now. It's possible that by 2015 some kind of bare-bones hydrogen infrastructure could develop in some regions of the country, but even if Toyota gets the cost of a vehicle down to $50,000, many hurdles remain before hydrogen adoption begins on any significant scale.
Even Masuda admitted that the market for the fuel-cell sedan would at first be "small, but with some support." GM, Mazda and Honda have been on the hydrogen path for some time, but the nearly non-existent infrastructure in the U.S. has prevented retail thoughts ... along with the nearly $1 million cost for their vehicles as well.
Copyright © 2010, Chicago Tribune
COMMENTS (1) |
zero emmissions? remember: it takes energy to produce hydrogen, unless of course one uses wind, solar, or hydropower. if coal burning power plants supply the electricity to produce the hydrogen than it's not quite zero emmisions.
RationalDude (05/11/2010, 2:47 PM )
Posts
