Toyota will deploy more than 100 of its latest vehicle model that runs on hydrogen instead of gasoline in the United States, hoping to stimulate growth needed for vehicle support infrastructure.

Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A. Inc. and Toyota Motor Manufacturing and Engineering North America Inc. said they will put the Toyota fuel cell hybrid vehicle-advanced vehicles in universities, government agencies and private companies initially within California and New York.

Over the next three years, Toyota hopes to spread the vehicles, a fuel cell version of its Highlander, in other regions as new hydrogen stations come online. Toyota said it will be one of the largest fuel cell demonstration programs in the United States.

Building enough hydrogen refuelling stations is crucial to Toyota’s plan to demonstrate fuel cell technologies’ performance, as it prepares for a 2015 market launch of the fuel cell hybrid.

"Toyota will not be alone in the fuel cell marketplace and building an extensive hydrogen refuelling infrastructure is the critical next step. Hopefully, expansion of demonstration programs like this one will serve as a catalyst," said Irv Miller, Toyota Motor Sales group vice president of environmental affairs.

Toyota introduced its fuel cell hybrid vehicle in 2002 and began limited testing of fuel cell vehicles in the United States and Japan.

By 2009, it said its advanced fuel cell hybrid vehicles had attained the equivalent of a 68 miles per gallon rating with an estimated range of 431 miles on a single fill of hydrogen compressed gas. The figure is more than double the range of the Highlander’s hybrid version.

In May last year, United States Energy Secretary Steven Chu removed about $100 million in funding for fuel cell vehicle research in the federal budget, saying the technology is still far off.

He was criticized with picking early winners early in the United States’ drive towards clean energy applications.

The next month, a 1,700-mile long demonstration called the Hydrogen Road Tour was held from California to Vancouver, British Columbia, featuring 12 fuel cell car models from seven companies. The models included the fuel cell vehicles Chevy Equinox, Mercedes F-Cell, Honda F.C.X. Clarity, Hyundai Tucson, Kia Borrego, Nissan X-Trail, Volkswagen HyMotion and Toyota’s own.

Recently, Japan held its own 1,100-kilometer long fuel cell demonstration drive featuring Nissan’s X-Trail, Honda’s Clarity and Toyota’s fuel cell hybrid. The demonstration started in Tokyo and ended in Fukuoka.

"We plan to come to market in 2015, or earlier, with a vehicle that will be reliable and durable, with exceptional fuel economy and zero emissions, at an affordable price," Mr. Miller said.

-   Eric Dorente