What Does 'Getting Rid Of Gasoline' Mean? To Toyota, It's Hydrogen

Toyota president Akio Toyoda is on the cover of this week's Bloomberg Businessweek, along with a provocative blurb.

It says Toyoda has a dream for his family's company--and that dream is "no more gasoline."

The grandson of Toyota's founder, Toyoda said explicitly what has already been intimated by other company executives and ads that lash out at battery-electric cars.

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For Toyota, the future isn't batteries: It's hydrogen fuel cells.

Others in the industry--notably Toyoda's counterparts at Nissan, Tesla, and Volkswagen--might beg to differ, but he remains confident that hydrogen is the way to go for the zero-emission vehicles of coming decades.

Toyoda noted that the original Prius hybrid seemed like a long shot when it launched more than a decade ago, but the company has since sold over 7 million hybrids globally.

He said the 2016 Toyota Mirai sedan could have a similar impact, taking fuel cells mainstream and encouraging a transition to a "hydrogen society."

Of course, Toyota spent a not-inconsiderable amount of money to develop the Prius--and lost money on it initially. The same could very well happen with Mirai.

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On top of that, the carmaker will have to deal with the question of hydrogen fueling infrastructure.

Hydrogen fueling stations are much more expensive to construct than electric-car charging stations.

There are only a handful now operating in the U.S., almost all in California--where the Mirai will launch next year.