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 Toyota, Honda and Hyundai used the opening days of the Los Angeles
auto show, which draws thousands of car enthusiasts in one of the
world's richest vehicle markets, to tout new fuel-cell cars. These
use hydrogen in a process that creates electricity but not carbon
dioxide. Automakers plan to offer these cars in California, although
the rollout will be limited.
Hyundai says it has already leased its fuel-cell Tucson to about 85
customers, and Toyota says it has received expressions of interest
from more than 2,000 people. Honda’s Clarity sedan will only be
available in late 2016. Fuel-cell technology is expensive, and
hydrogen fueling stations are still rare. Hyundai's Tucson can be
leased for $499 per month and sold only in Southern California,
where there are about nine fueling stations.
Toyota's new Mirai can run for 300 miles between charges. Bill Fay,
general manager for Toyota brand sales in the United States, told
Reuters that a concerted public-private push is needed to build more
refueling stations.
"We need the government to support the investment in this and we
hope that Honda and Hyundai will be coming in and provide some
support," Fay said. "Then I think we have some critical mass to
build from and take off from there."
California provides as much as $100 million a year to fund
alternative fuel and vehicle projects, including hydrogen refueling
stations.
Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk and other Tesla executives have
taken shots at fuel cells and the tax-funded subsidies used to
promote them. Fuel cell vehicles compete with Tesla's electric cars
as generators of credits that could help conventional automakers
meet California's complex zero emission vehicle quotas.
Tesla has benefited from, and repaid, government loans. It sells
clean car credits. Tesla has also built its own recharging network.
“Fuel cells are dependent on public infrastructure in a way electric
vehicles will never be,” Tesla’s vice president for business
development, Diarmuid O’Connell, said Friday at an appearance before
the Automotive Press Association. And because much of the hydrogen
used in fuel cell vehicles will be derived from fossil fuels, he
said, “fuel cell vehicles are not even zero emission vehicles.”
Battery electric cars rely on an electric grid that in many regions
of the United States is fueled by coal and gas, but O’Connell said
the U.S. grid is getting cleaner.
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Public subsidies and regulations are the key forces driving the
competition between fuel cell vehicles and battery electric vehicles
in California, where state regulators have mandated that up to 16
percent of vehicles, or 1.5 million cars, sold in the state by 2025
be zero emission. Currently, about 2 percent of the vehicles sold in
California are electric cars.
Both fuel-cell cars and battery electric cars have limitations that
discourage many would-be buyers.
Most electric battery-powered cars on the market run for fewer than
100 miles between recharging stops. Tesla’s Model S sedan and Model
X sport utility can run for more than 200 miles between charges, but
the average Tesla sells for over $70,000.
Low gas prices undermine demand for both technologies. Only about
67,700 electric vehicles were sold in the United States last year -
about 0.4 percent of the 16.5 million new cars and trucks sold.
"The electric car that has earned one dime for its maker hasn't been
created yet," said Johan de Nysschen, president of General Motors Co
's Cadillac luxury brand, on the sidelines of the show.
Still, GM plans a new electric Chevrolet model with a projected
200-mile range, and is experimenting with fuel cell technology.
(Reporting by Alexandria Sage; Additional reporting by Joseph White;
Editing by Joseph White and Leslie Adler)
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