Toyota unveiled the first commercial version of its zero-emission hydrogen-fuel-cell vehicle at the Aspen Ideas Festival in the USA at the end of last month.

The Japanese car maker said that the four-seater vehicle, dubbed the FCV Concept, can travel up to 300 miles on a single tank of hydrogen, which takes just 5min to replace with a full one.

Bob Carter, Toyota Motor senior vice-president (sales), said: “This is going to be a very special vehicle, and we believe we can bring it in at a very reasonable price. The success of fuel-cell technology will depend less on the genius of the car than on the ownership experience.”

Toyota said that the FCV will go on sale in Japan by April 2015; it will be launched across Europe and the USA (starting with California) in the summer of 2015.