Toyota Motor Corp. will raise its production capacity for fuel cell vehicles (FCVs) tenfold to 30,000 a year, it has been learned.
To prepare for the December launch of the fully revamped Mirai, the automaker aims to promote and popularize FCVs by setting up a complete mass-production system.
Dubbed the ultimate eco-car, FCVs use hydrogen as fuel and emit only water while moving.
The company will boost production capacity of fuel cells -- the main source of power -- 10 times compared to the current capacity, including those to be used on buses and other commercial vehicles, according to Toyota.
The current first-generation Mirai was launched in 2014 as the world's first mass-produced FCV model. However, sales are not growing partly because production capacity is limited to 3,000 units per year.
Only 690 FCV passenger cars sold in Japan in 2019.
The second-generation Mirai will have a range of 850 kilometers when it is fully loaded with hydrogen, up by 30% from the first model. Seating capacity also rose from four to five, boosting its user-friendliness.
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