TOYOTA, the world’s second biggest vehicle manufacturer by volume, admits that to achieve a fuel cell launch within a decade requires spectacular cuts in the pricing of system components.

An ambitious cost reduction target of 99% has become the key player in a drive to put fuel cell mobility on a par with conventional petrol power, revealed company development general manager Katsuhiko Hirose.

In an interview at a special technology seminar staged at ADAC, the safety and test organisation in Germany, he told Fleet News: ‘We saved more than 70% on components for the Prius and we now aim to prove we can do better than that for the fuel cell car. But we do know that getting there will not be easy.’