Toyota's Ky. boss bullish on hydrogen technology

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The head of Toyota Motor's Kentucky plant predicted Thursday that hydrogen fuel cell technology will revolutionize the automotive industry.

Speaking to the Louisville Rotary Club, Wilbert "Wil" James, president of Toyota's $6 billion facility in Georgetown, said that the hydrogen-fuel cell vehicle now debuting in California is the future.

"We're really serious about this technology" because of its potential to reinvent "sustainable mobility," James said.

Toyota is racing to get an edge in the emerging hydrogen vehicle sector beside Honda and Hyundai — all spurred by the push to produce alternative fuel-powered models with zero emissions.

Detractors have criticized the current hydrogen technology as not particularly green because the fuel is made from natural gas. They also have said that refueling estimated at $60 for a 300-mile run may persuade drivers to stick with cheaper, gasoline-burners.

Toyota also has had to work hard to allay fears that the high-pressured hydrogen, which is flammable and potentially explosive, is safe in the carbon-fuel tanks to store it in cars.

James acknowledged just one downside — the lack of refueling stations, which cost $1 million a piece. That will hinder the expansion of hydrogen fuel cell technology until "the infrastructure" is more built out across the country, he said.

The company's Prius hybrid gas and electric-battery powered vehicle took time to gain a following, James said, and similarly, "it's going to take a small number of people to start" to drive and expand ownership to allay the public's concerns about the technology's reliability.

James, who joined Toyota in 1987, said that the Georgetown plant has focused its energies recently on the launch of the Lexus ES350. The company chose the plant as the first in the U.S. to produce the vehicle and has since invested $360 million in upgrades and added 750 additional workers.

Several have been training on test Lexus vehicles, practice runs for finished sedans set to roll off the line by mid-October. The goal is to manufacture 50,000 vehicles annually, bringing the plant's overall production to 550,000 per year.

Kentucky provided $146 million in tax incentives over 10 years after plans were announced for the third assembly line two years ago. Avalon and Camry vehicles are produced now in Georgetown.