Toyota is preparing for a ten-fold increase in global fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVS) with a number of new plans.

Toyota Mirai hydrogen fuel cell vehicle

The carmaker said that it sees global sales of its fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEV) increasing significantly after 2020, to at least 30,000 per year from today’s 3,000.

As such, Toyota is making moves to expand mass-production of fuel cell stacks and hydrogen tanks.

The plans would see the development of a newly constructed building at its Honsha Plant for expanding fuel cell stack mass production from the current building.

Meanwhile a new line at an existing plant would manufacture high-pressure hydrogen tanks. The FC stack is what generates the on-board electricity from hydrogen and oxygen which propel FCEVs with zero emissions, and the tanks store the hydrogen fuel.

Previously, the hydrogen tanks were assembled at the Honsha plant on a smaller scale.

The carmaker already sells the Mirai in various markets across the globe, including the UK and Europe, and produced around 3,000 units in 2017. In a statement, it said: “As a technology, fuel cells are mature and ready to scale up. In order to encourage more widespread use of hydrogen-powered zero-emission vehicles, popularisation needs to start by the 2020s.”