How Hydrogen Fuel Cell Cars Work

Music: Flying Dream by Dhruva Aliman - Amazon- https://amzn.to/2B9tGa7 https://music.apple.com/us/artist/dhruva-aliman/363563637 - https://dhruvaaliman.bandcamp.com/album/road-of-fortunes - http://www.dhruvaaliman.com/ - Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/artist/5XiFCr9iBKE6Cupltgnlet -... In Japanese, “mirai” means “future,” and the Mirai is the future of motoring: It runs solely on hydrogen and its only emissions are water. Expected later in 2015, the Mirai initially will be sold or leased just in California, where the infrastructure for hydrogen fueling exists. Range is around 300 miles, refueling will take about five minutes, and fuel is included for the first three years of ownership. The powertrain has an eight-year/100,000-mile warranty to allay early-adopter concerns.

Toyota’s advertising focuses on the Mirai’s benefits – and the fact that it’s also powered by electricity. The Mirai emits only water; it can be refueled in about five minutes versus several hours at a 240-volt electric vehicle charger; and it has a driving range of 312 miles, comparable to a gasoline-powered car.

“Consumers, while I think they love the idea of a high-tech car that’s very green, they still want a car that acts like what they are driving today,” said Lentz. “Being able to pull up to a fueling station and fill the tank in five minutes is a huge plus” for hydrogen-powered cars, he said. “Even supercharging of EVs isn’t realistic. You have to wait 30 minutes.”

Toyota Mirai FCV Declared 2016 World Green Car

Toyota faces steep challenges in making the Mirai as popular as the Prius. There are only 16 retail hydrogen filling stations in the U.S. (mostly in California), a number that expected to grow to more than 30 by year’s end. There are also technical and regulatory issues the Mirai and other fuel cell vehicles will need to pass through, such as the safety of hydrogen compared to other fuels.

Another challenge is a fundamental branding problem. Tesla CEO Elon Musk has been setting the pace in news and social media.

“When you talk about electric cars, most people jump to Tesla,” said Jez Frampton, global chief executive of Interbrand. “The car industry has all the capability to beat these upstarts. And yet they seem to have grabbed people’s imagination. That lays a significant challenge at Toyota’s doorstep.”

The Toyota Mirai will be competing with more high-end car purchases such as the Model S than it will be with the more affordable Tesla Model 3. At $57,500 the Mirai is almost half the price of the top-end Model S. State and federal incentives can take off an additional $13,000.

Leasing programs on the Mirai are available for $500 a month. For the hydrogen fuel, Toyota will even buy the Mirai owners fuel for three years under a promotional offer.

Toyota’s sales targets are minimal for now with 3,000 Mirais sold by the end of 2017 and 30,000 by 2020. Long-term, Toyota sees hybrids and fuel cell cars as the way to go for leadership in green car sales. Toyota says that battery-electric vehicles have serious constraints in costs and driving range for the foreseeable future. Toyota believes there will be an inevitable switch over to hydrogen fuel cell vehicles years from now.

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