At the 2007 Los Angeles Auto Show last week, Toyota Vice President Bob Carter announced a successful research experiment. Engineers and others drove a Toyota FCHV from Fairbanks, Alaska to Vancouver, British Columbia.
In late September, Toyota had reported that the FCHV had completed a test run between Osaka, Japan and Tokyo for a distance of 348 miles with plenty of fuel remaining. In fact, Carter has now stated that the FCHV has a range of 485 miles.
The trip from Alaska to Canada is an extension of the Japanese test and covered 2,300 miles through rugged terrain and cold weather. In addition, herds of caribou, elk and goats also slowed the convoy down, which consisted of a mobile hydrogen station, a self-contained station and two Toyota Tundra’s as support vehicles.
The test took place primarily inside Canada since the Canadians allow mobile hydrogen fueling stations upon their roadways. The road trip ended in Vancouver, which is one of the six cities on the Canadian Hydrogen Highway.