Toyota Faces Class-Action Lawsuit in US for Alleged Anti-Competitive Behavior in Hydrogen Fuel Cell Market
TapTechNews August 5th news, recently Toyota has been involved in a class-action lawsuit in the US, accused of using anti-competitive behavior to monopolize the California hydrogen fuel cell vehicle market, resulting in a soaring cost of hydrogen refueling for consumers and a waste of millions of dollars of taxpayers' funds used to build hydrogen fuel stations.
The lawsuit was initiated by a group of California taxpayers, focusing on a clean energy hydrogen fuel station built by the California State University, Los Angeles in 2010 using government grants. The plaintiffs accuse Toyota of preventing the station from operating by imposing苛刻 standards afterward, although it met all other standards stipulated by the state government.
The plaintiffs' lawyer team said that Toyota removed the hydrogen station from the 'Hydrogen Fuel Cell Partnership' website (a quasi-government agency that is actually accused of being controlled by Toyota), effectively blocking its service to the public, not only stifling competition but also causing a waste of taxpayers' funds.
The lawsuit alleges that the university's practice of producing clean hydrogen using water instead of fossil fuels is one of the main reasons why Toyota has blocked the hydrogen station for seven years, as Toyota prefers to produce hydrogen using fossil fuels.
It is worth noting that this is not the first time Toyota has faced relevant lawsuits. Last month, it was reported that owners of the hydrogen fuel cell vehicle Mirai sued the company due to Toyota's misleading publicity. The Plaintiffs pointed out problems such as insufficient number of hydrogen fuel stations and the soaring price of hydrogen fuel (increased by 200% in the past few years), resulting in the $15,000 hydrogen refueling card given by Toyota being far from enough to support the promised five years of free fuel.
The owners also complained that the 357-mile and 402-mile ranges of the Toyota Mirai Limited and XLE are completely unrealistic, and the actual range is usually about 100 miles (TapTechNews note: approximately 160.93 kilometers) lower. They stated that these factors led to the value of the Mirai being only 19% of the original price after five years. Earlier this year, Toyota offered a $40,000 discount on the $67,000 Mirai, making its price close to that of a Corolla.