Toyota has high hopes for hydrogen car by 2015

Toyota's first hydrogen-powered car is still a year away from production, but its already predicting a hit. “Fuel cell electric vehicles will be in our future sooner than many people believe, and in much greater numbers than anyone expected,” said Toyota senior vice president Bob Carter at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. The car, which Toyota calls FCV for now, uses hydrogen as fuel for a battery and emits only water vapor as exhaust. Toyota said the car will go on sale in the U.S. in 2015. Rival automakers Hyundai and Honda have also said they'd start selling cars with that technology in the U.S. that year. At the International CES, the technology industry's annual gadget show in Las Vegas, the Japanese automaker said it will focus on selling cars in California at first. Toyota Motor Corp. has promised to sell its fuel cell cars for $50,000 to $100,000, aiming for the lower end of the range. Toyota said the car will have a range of 300 miles, can accelerate from standstill to 60 miles per hour in 10 seconds, and can refuel its hydrogen tank in three to five minutes.