Yes, we do realize this car is ugly and boring and not something we would normally feature. But bear with us, because 2015 Toyota FCV is a hugely important car. This will be the first properly mass produced hydrogen fuel cell car, and the first step to end the reign of plug-in electric cars.

Toyota has been talking a lot about the new FCV for the past two years, but when it came to unveiling it, they did it rather quietly in Aspen, of all places. 2015 Toyota FCV is a four-door family saloon with a sort of styling that only a Japanese anime enthusiast will find interesting.

But talking about styling of the FCV is missing the point. This car has a range of over 480 km (300 miles) on one tank of H2, all of it emission-free. Well, it emits one thing, and that’s H2O, which is water. The best part is, filling up the 2015 Toyota FCV takes about 5 minutes. A comparable plug-in electric car would need at least 45 minutes, and that’s with a fast charger. Without a fast charger, they take up to 5 hours to recharge.

The development of fuel cell vehicles has been a speedy process and more car makers are seeing this technology as the way forward. Toyota is planning to start production of the FCV in Summer 2015. But there is a huge hurdle in the way of FCVs to go mainstream, and that’s the lack of a proper H2 distribution infrastructure. That’s a job for the governments.

“Our society is on the cusp of a revolution in personal mobility,” said Osamu Nagata, President and CEO of Toyota Motor Engineering and Manufacturing North America. “Slowly but surely, new technologies are changing how we think about automobiles and transportation — from intelligent, automated systems that team up with drivers to improve safety, to zero-emission vehicles that emit nothing but water vapor. These technologies will help save lives, improve the environment, create jobs and help the U.S. maintain technical leadership in a field that is an important contributor to economic growth.”