Toyota first to win approval for high-pressure hydrogen fuel tanks

Toyota has announced that it has gained government approval to build and inspect hydrogen tanks that will be installed in the FCV fuel-cell vehicle.

Japan is said to have stringent regulations for production of pressurized gas containers, which must be made available for official safety inspections during the assembly process. Before receiving the recent greenlight, Toyota’s tanks also had to be inspected before installation in prototype vehicles.

“The inspection schedules had a direct impact on inventory control and the manufacturing timetable for Toyota’s FCV prototypes,” the company said in a statement.

Toyota can now self-inspect the tanks, allowing the company to ramp up production and reduce costs.

The hydrogen vessels are built from carbon fiber and designed to withstand pressures of over 700 bar (10,152 psi), requiring extremely robust construction to avoid rupture in an accident. To highlight tank strength, the company early this year claimed a .50-caliber bullet barely made a dent and failed to penetrate the tank wall.

Toyota is competing with Honda to be the first to bring a fuel-cell vehicle to market, with both companies potentially launching their rival models sometime in 2015.