AP Television
Tokyo, Japan - 17 November 2014
1. Various of Toyota's "Mirai"driving by
AP Television
Tokyo, Japan - 18 November 2014
2. Pan right from media to wide of Mitsuhisa Kato, Toyota Motor Corp Executive Vice President (left) and Yoshikazu Tanaka, Toyota Motor Corp product planning group's Deputy Chief Engineer posing with car
3. Close of Kato and Tanaka
4. SOUNDBITE (Japanese) Mitsuhisa Kato, Toyota Motor Corp Executive Vice President:
"The "FCV" - if hydrogen energy is accepted, it will make a great difference in the society. I believe its innovation will surpass the Prius."
AP Television
Tokyo, Japan - 17 November 2014
5. Low shot of Toyota's "Mirai" driving by
AP Television
Tokyo, Japan - 18 November 2014
6. Wide of model showing fuel cell system
7. Close of Fuel filler
8. Pan left of model showing fuel cell system
9. Close of Fuel cell stack
AP Television
Tokyo, Japan - 17 November 2014
10. SOUNDBITE (Japanese) Hitoshi Nomasa, Toyota Motor Corp Project Manager of Mirai:
"The fuel cell stack is the heart of this vehicle, and furthermore, the "cell" is the key. Including its reliability, we put much of the effort in reducing the size and maximising the power of the fuel cell stack that had to be installed in an automobile. The mass production technology is also another factor that we focused on and we finally came to this point (of putting it out on the market)."
11. Pan left of Mirai driving by
12. Various of Mirai interior as it drives
13. Wide of Mirai passing by sign reading (English): "JHFC, Japan Hydrogen & Fuel Cell Demonstration Project"
14. Wide of Mirai arriving at hydrogen station pump
15. Various of fuelling process
AP Television
Tokyo, Japan - 18 November 2014
16. Setup shot of Haans Griemel, Asia Editor of Automotive News, speaking with man
17. Close up of Griemel
18. SOUNDBITE (English) Haans Griemel, Asia Editor of Automotive News:
"The most challenging part of this car's roll out is of course the infrastructure. It's kind of a chicken and egg type of a problem. People want to buy the car only if there's an infrastructure, but there won't be the infrastructure unless people are buying the cars. So, that's the biggest hurdle I would say right now, it's just getting a fuelling network up and running so that people aren't afraid to drive this car across the country."
19. Wide of press conference
20. SOUNDBITE (Japanese) Yoshikazu Tanaka, Toyota Motor Corp Product Planning Group's Deputy Chief Engineer:
"Our goal for the release in 2015 was originally decided in 2011 when the infrastructure providers, automakers and the government agreed and announced its plan to have the infrastructure ready by year 2015. We timed it - in a way - to synchronise with the similar movement happening in Europe and in America so we went along with that."
21. Close of Mirai's front interior
22. Close of logo reading (English) "FUELCELL"
23. Wide of Mirai
24. Pull focus of Toyota logo
AP Television
Tokyo, Japan - 17 November 2014
25. Low shot of Mirai driving past
LEADIN:
Toyota is about to take its first small step into the unproven market of emissions-free, hydrogen-powered vehicles.
The world's largest automaker has announced it will begin selling a limited number of its fuel cell car - named 'Mirai' - from December in Japan and later in mid-2015 across the US and Europe.
It's named the Toyota Mirai and now this sporty-looking four-door is stealing all the attention in Tokyo.
At a press event on Tuesday (18 November), the Japanese car manufacturers unveiled their latest creation to the media.
It's set to retail for 6.7 million yen ($57,600 USD) before taxes.
But if you're hoping to get your hands on you'll have to be quick, Toyota Motor Corp only expect to sell 400 in Japan and 300 in the rest of the world in the first year.
More importantly, it represents a seismic shift for the Japanese automakers, the Mirai is their first emissions-free, hydrogen-powered vehicle.
"The "FCV" - if hydrogen energy is accepted, it will make a great difference in the society," says Mitsuhisa Kato, Toyota Motor Corp's executive vice president.
"I believe its innovation will surpass the Prius."
Fuel cell vehicles run on compressed hydrogen gas, which - in Mirai's case - is stored in two tanks mounted underneath the vehicle.
They emit no exhaust, though fossil fuels are used in the production of hydrogen and to pressurise it.
According to those involved with its creation, the most difficult factor in developing the vehicle was its fuel cell stack.
"The fuel cell stack is the heart of this vehicle, and furthermore, the "cell" is the key," says Hitoshi Nomasa, project manager of Mirai.
"Including its reliability, we put much of the effort in reducing the size and maximising the power of the fuel cell stack that had to be installed in an automobile. The mass production technology is also another factor that we focused on and we finally came to this point (of putting it out on the market)."
The stack outputs a maximum of 114 KW.
According to Toyota, the efficiency of its electricity generation has been improved by using 3D fine mesh flow channels to ensure uniform generation on cell surfaces - a world first.
Other Asian automakers, Honda and Hyundai, are also experimenting with limited sales and leases of fuel cell cars.
Honda recently showed off a fuel cell concept.
Besides the relatively high cost, buyers will have to contend with finding fuel - only a few dozen hydrogen filling stations have been built worldwide, though governments are subsidising the construction of more.
It's an uncertain future that depends both on whether makers can bring down the price and if a wide-enough network of filling stations is built.
According to auto analyst Haans Griemel, the most challenging part of selling the FCVs is the problem of infrastructure.
"The most challenging part of this car's roll out is of course the infrastructure," he says.
"It's kind of a chicken and egg type of a problem. People want to buy the car only if there's an infrastructure, but there won't be the infrastructure unless people are buying the cars. So, that's the biggest hurdle I would say right now, it's just getting a fuelling network up and running so that people aren't afraid to drive this car across the country."
Yoshikazu Tanaka, the deputy chief engineer for Toyota's next generation vehicle development, says he expects it will take 10-20 years for the Mirai to reach sales in the tens of thousands of vehicles a year.
This release was timed with what's happening around the world.
"Our goal for the release in 2015 was originally decided in 2011 when the infrastructure providers, automakers and the government agreed and announced its plan to have the infrastructure ready by year 2015," says Tanaka.
"We timed it - in a way - to synchronise with the similar movement happening in Europe and in America so we went along with that."
Toyota faced a similar scenario with its gasoline-electric hybrid - the Prius - which now sells in big numbers.
Hoping to offset the inconvenience of finding fuel, Toyota gave the car a futuristic look inside and out - Mirai means 'future' in Japanese.
It accelerates quickly, from about 40 to 70 kilometres (25 to 45 miles) per hour.
The Japanese government also plans to offer a 2 million yen ($17,136 USD) subsidy to purchasers of fuel cell cars, reducing the effective price to 4.7 million yen ($40,270 USD).
Sales will be limited to the primarily urban areas that have fueling stations.
In Japan, there are about 30 stations.
They're in the regions around Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya cities in central and western Japan and the northern part of Kyushu Island in the south.
A few stations have opened in California in the United States and there are plans to build some in the Northeast.
Germany and the UK are among European countries that have or plan to build them.
According to Toyota, they currently have about 200 pre-orders for the vehicle, mainly from government agencies and companies that want to go green.
The Mirai can travel 650 to 700 kilometres (400-435 miles) on its two tanks of hydrogen.
In the US, its range is 300 miles because of different driving conditions.
Hydrogen may be more expensive than gas initially, because there are so few customers but - over time - Toyota expects it will be cheaper to run a car on hydrogen than gas.
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