We’ll have to wait up until next year to drive one of Toyota’s hydrogen fuel cell-powered cars and trucks – previewed at last year’s Tokyo motor show by the FCV idea – however that hasn’t stopped the Japanese manufacturer putting the innovation itself to work.
A 1.11 megawatt fuel cell has been fitted at the Toyota motor Sales headquarters in Los Angeles to produce affordable electricity with a reduced carbon footprint.
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It utilizes a Proton exchange Membrane, the exact same fundamental innovation set to function in Toyota’s forthcoming production car.
According to a statement from the company, one of the main benefits of PEM fuel cell systems is exactly how quickly as well as quickly they can be turned on as well as off.
As well as being well fit for utilize in vehicles, Toyota likewise believes the “responsiveness as well as reliability” of such units will assurance “prompt power supply to the sales school during high-demand periods.”
The concept is therefore to change utilize to satisfy requirements, with the new fixed fuel cell obviously capable of supplying half of the overall power needed by the six buildings on the LA site when demand is at its peak in the summertime months.
“Most other fuel cell technologies requirement to run constantly to produce baseload power,” explained mark Yamamuchi, the site’s sustainable strategy programme manager. “This job is unique in that we are leveraging the characteristics of the PEM innovation to load-follow.”
The largest installation of its kind in the world, Toyota declares this very first application of a fuel cell as a stationary power generation creates sufficient power on typical to satisfy the needs of 765 typical American homes.