Toyota's Fine-N Hybrid/Fuel Cell Concept Car

While every other car company is racing to match the Prius' ICE/battery hybrid design, Toyota has the next best thing in it's sights: a fuel cell/battery hybrid with drive-by-wire on all four wheels. Yes...we know its only a concept car. But it seems like only a few years ago that people said that very same thing about Prius. And, a TreeHugger can dream can't he? For some cool trade show jargon have look below the fold.

The Fine-N is a fuel cell hybrid concept vehicle designed to shape the future of motoring. Advances in fuel cell hybrid system technology promise to bring the future motorists more than just environmental benefits, a new freedom of vehicle form liberated from the usual power train layout ..

The Fine-N's overall package consist of a low-flat floor with the length of a Corolla, but with a cabin even more spacious than the luxurious sedan Lexus LS430. The vehicle employs four in-wheel motors in an innovative "cabin on wheels" configuration. Key to the fresh proportions of this ground-hugging, long-wheelbase-to-length design is Toyota's fuel cell hybrid technology, which allows freedom from conventional power train layout constraints so that individually electric-powered wheels can be positioned nearly at the vehicle's four corners. With a spacious interior cabin, a cockpit fit for your driving environment, interactive controls and gauges, and a large multi-information display, and a video camera, the Fine-N is truly designed with focus on driving requirements.

As a pioneer in making practical fuel cell hybrid vehicles (FCHV), Toyota now shows the way to an even more advanced fuel cell hybrid system... Electric power from the Toyota FC Stack and a lithium ion battery drives a motor to power the vehicle, delivering acceleration on a par with a gasoline engine vehicle.