Toyota to roll out fuel-cell car by 2015

Toyota Motor, the world's top automaker, plans to roll out a fuel-cell car by 2015 in its push to stay ahead in the global race for green autos, vice president Masatami Takimoto said Tuesday.
His comments came at a shareholders' meeting at Toyota headquarters in Aichi prefecture in response to an investor's question about the company's outlook on zero-emissions technology, but he declined to elaborate.
Fuel-cell technology is considered a cutting-edge solution to reducing carbon dioxide emissions as it generates electricity by combining a fuel -- usually hydrogen -- with oxygen, and therefore only emits water.
Toyota began limited sales of a fuel-cell hybrid vehicle in 2002 in the United States and Japan, using technology from its best-selling Prius hybrids.
But carmakers have generally concentrated on implementing the more affordable technology used for hybrids or battery-powered vehicles.
Fuel-cell systems remain costly due to the technology involved and the fact that it is difficult to store enough hydrogen in a vehicle to allow it to travel as far as a conventional car.