Hydrogen

Toyota Australia (TMCA) is engaged in trials with the first-generation hydrogen fuel-cell electric vehicle (FCEV) Mirai, and with that in mind is “most certainly looking” at launching the more aesthetic second-gen model. Revealed publicly for the first time as a near-road-ready ‘concept’ in Tokyo last week, the new five-metre-long Mirai is a huge step-change over its high-tech, but frumpy, predecessor.

The second-generation Toyota Mirai will be launched in 2020, Takeshi Uchiyamada, the Japanese automaker's chairman, has confirmed. According to Reuters, Uchiyamada made the revelation in Tokyo at meeting on hydrogen energy with ministers from around the world. We don't know anything about the second-generation Mirai's drivetrain, but it's possible it could use some of the hydrogen fuel-cell technology being developed jointly with BMW.

Hyundai’s luxury brand Genesis is poised to launch an electric car to take on Tesla – and it will be on Australian roads within two years. The still-secret electric vehicle is just one of a vast range of new models Genesis is ready to roll out in Australia, one of its key new markets globally.

Toyota Australia (TMCA) is aiming for one-in-five of all vehicles it sells to be fuel-saving petrol-electric hybrid cars, within a time frame of just two years. Based on current sales volumes, this equates to about 42,000 sales of Toyota hybrid cars in 2020, figures that seemed scarcely plausible even a few years ago given Australia’s slow take-up of environmentally friendly cars.

A new inquiry into the use of automation in mass-transit systems around Australia has been announced, as the Infrastructure, Transport and Cities Committee looks to make public transport "better, stronger and faster" going forward. The inquiry, which will also investigate the role new fuel sources like hydrogen and electric power can play on road, rail and point-to-point delivery vehicles going forward, is accepting submissions until December 7, 2018.