Toyota is right at the heart of the action this weekend, as the inaugural RAC Brighton to London Future Car Challenge takes place this Saturday, 6 November. Designed as a partner event for the long-established Veteran Car Run, the Future Car Challenge is an annual rally that has its sights firmly fixed on future technology.
The event is a great way of introducing the cars and technologies that are leading the auto industry’s plans for sustainable transport. For Toyota, it’s an opportunity to demonstrate its leadership in cleaner, fuel-efficient motoring with cars such as the full hybrid Prius and British-built Auris Hybrid.
All three generations of Prius will be represented, helping celebrate the world’s best-selling hybrid’s 10th anniversary in the UK. We will be looking out, too, for the car that marks the next phase in Prius’s development, Prius Plug-in Hybrid (PHV).
The sharp-eyed among you may already have spotted Prius PHV around London where it’s joined a number of business and government car fleets on a leasing demonstration programme.
But the real treat has to be Toyota’s Fuel Cell Hybrid Vehicle – FCHV-adv – which will be seen on the road for the first time in the UK.
Like Prius and Auris Hybrid, FCHV-adv uses Toyota’s Hybrid Synergy Drive system, but a specially developed version that’s engineered to work with hydrogen fuel. This means zero CO2 emissions – in fact, the only by-product is water vapour!
Sounds futuristic? It’s not as far-reaching as you may think – road testing is well advanced and Toyota is on course to bring its ground-breaking FCHV-adv model to market in 2015.
If you’re in London’s West End on Saturday afternoon, you’ll be able to see FCHV-adv alongside the rest of Toyota’s entries. Head for Regent Street where all the Future Car Challenge vehicles will be on display alongside their vintage counterparts.
EHA congratulates Toyate with this Toyota UK fuel cell car primeur. We look forward to see the Toyota FCHV-adv in Brussels next week during the Joint Undeertaking for hydorgen and fuel cell General Stakeholders Meeting, Novemebr 9-10. See more on European hydrogen transport activities on the European Hydrogen Association’s website: http://www.h2euro.org.