A new era of zero-emission mobility fueled by hydrogen has arrived with the Mirai.
The Japanese word for Mirai is “future,” yet in order for our innovative Toyota Fuel Cell System technology to be a success, it must be appealing to and available to people now. Despite having a cutting-edge drivetrain and utilizing a novel fuel, the Mirai is a typical mid-size, four-door sedan that is just as useful, secure, and simple to operate as a conventionally powered family car.
On a full tank of hydrogen, it will travel as far as a comparable-sized gasoline vehicle, and filling up from empty takes between three and five minutes. The benefits include a quiet, comfortable ride, high performance, and only water vapor emissions from the exhaust.
A interaction between hydrogen and oxygen generates energy in the Toyota Fuel Cell System seen in the Mirai.
In the same way that you purchase gasoline or diesel at a filling station, you refuel with hydrogen fuel. The fuel is kept in high-pressure tanks and pumped into a fuel cell stack, where the air’s hydrogen and oxygen interact to produce electricity.
Similar to a gasoline-electric hybrid, the voltage of the electricity is increased to power the electric motor. Every time the car brakes or slows down, more energy is stored in a battery, which results in even improved fuel efficiency.
We are the first company in the world to provide a system with a power density of 3.1 kW per liter thanks to our decades of research and development in hybrid electric technology.
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Toyota Mirai: Is it entirely electric?
The Fuel Cell Stack is where the hydrogen from the fuel tank and the air coming in through the intake grille meet. There, hydrogen and airborne oxygen react chemically to produce electricity that powers Mirai. The only residual product is water at the end.
Limited Hydro Blue models are offered with 20-in. Aluminum alloy wheels finished in super chrome. Vehicle prototype with options displayed.
To find a filling station, visit the California Fuel Cell Partnership website.
Is the Toyota Mirai a water-powered vehicle?
A more recent development in environmentally friendly vehicles is the hydrogen-powered Toyota Mirai, which is available at Irvine car dealerships. The only byproduct of these cars’ hydrogen-only operation is water. The Toyota dealers deem the Mirai’s technology and design to be quite advanced.
Is the Mirai fueled by hydrogen?
The 2022 Mirai sedan, with one of Toyota’s most exquisite designs, appears to have come from a time when boxy SUVs are a thing of the past. Its elegant design and flowing lines draw attention away from its hydrogen-powered propulsion system, which is the real showpiece. The inbuilt electric engine provides slow acceleration, but the zero-emission Mirai allows drivers to refill quickly without having to wait around at an EV charger. The Mirai has a luxurious cabin, a forgiving ride, and pleasantly energetic handling, but it is limited to places with hydrogen fuelling stations. Because of this, only California now sells the Miraia and Hyundai Nexo, its main rival.
What is the price to fill up a Mirai?
In a perfect world, refueling a hydrogen car should take about the same amount of time as refueling a gasoline or diesel vehicle. Since the fuel is under pressure (up to 10,000 psi), you must lock the nozzle in place, but after you do that, you should be good to go. The pressure at the station, however, may really drop off momentarily if there are multiple automobiles waiting in line for hydrogen, slowing down everyone. If multiple cars use it in a sequence, the nozzle may also freeze, adhering to the cars and making removal more difficult until it thaws out.
Currently, it can be expensive to fill up a car with hydrogen, in part due to the lack of infrastructure. For instance, refueling the Mirai would run you roughly $90 per throw if you had to pay for it (by the kilogram). However, if all goes according to plan, you can drive around releasing only water, which is a pleasant perk.
Watch Tommy’s video below for additional information on the Mirai and what it’s like to live with it:
Can I refuel my automobile with hydrogen at home?
A three-car garage-sized space and nearly a million dollars’ worth of equipment would be needed to fill up a hydrogen car at home. Or, you could simply plug an electric vehicle into a power socket.
Is hydrogen fuel less expensive than regular fuel?
Although hydrogen fuel is four times more expensive than gasoline and about $16 per gallon, it is far more efficient than gasoline. The cost of a fillup is high even though hydrogen cars, which have electric engines, have cruising ranges that are more than 350 miles longer than any battery-electric and some gas-powered vehicles.
The financial blow has been considerably mitigated by incentives. The state offers a $4,500 clean-car refund, and manufacturers supply refueling cards with three years’ worth of credit put on them. The first year of leasing a hydrogen vehicle, which is what most drivers do instead of buying, is mostly covered by that refund. New hydrogen vehicles cost around $60,000 and don’t come in as many model variants as battery-powered electric vehicles.
Aaron Slavin and his wife, who reside in the Altadena, California, neighborhood of Los Angeles, created a spreadsheet to analyze the benefits and drawbacks of driving a hydrogen-fueled vehicle. They came to the conclusion that keeping a gas-electric hybrid “didn’t pencil out.”
Aaron Slavin refueled his 2017 Toyota Mirai at a one-bay hydrogen pump concealed at a typical gas station in South Pasadena and declared, “I’m a big fan of this car; I preach about them.
Slavin, a producer of performing arts, claimed that because of his employment, lack of frequent commuting, and backup hybrid SUV, he is an ideal fit for the vehicle.
Last year, a fuel manufacturing facility explosion restricted supply for months, leaving some hydrogen stations with empty tanks, leaving some drivers stranded or demanding lengthy treks to alternate stations, making the second car essential. Slavin turned to a smartphone app that offered a real-time inventory of fuel at each station in response to the issue, which some drivers dubbed the “hydropocalypse.”
Although the gasoline issue has been fixed, it prompted a concern. Our lease expires in April, so I really need to consider our options, Slavin added. ” The automobile is nice, however the fuel situation worries me.
Hydrogen energy production has long been an alluring objective. After all, hydrogen is the most common element in the universe, it is lightweight and energy-dense, and when used in transportation, it doesn’t release greenhouse gases but rather little pools of water instead.
But this clean-burning fuel has a carbon history. About 95% of hydrogen fuel is created via an energy-intensive method that relies on methane, the deadliest of the planet-warming gases, even though once it is formed it drives zero-emission electric motors. Because of this, it is challenging for certain environmental organizations to promote hydrogen vehicles.
Director of the Sierra Club in California Kathryn Phillips said, “We need to remove methane out of the system, not create a dependency on creating more. ” The current utilization of state subsidies for hydrogen fuel cells is not the ideal one when seen from an environmental perspective.
Two responses are given by supporters: Why not trap and use the methane that is currently being released unregulated into the environment from landfills and oil and gas plants while the state makes the transition to a zero-carbon economy? Why not switch to a technique that doesn’t use methane and uses the state’s excess solar energy instead, making the manufacturing clean and environmentally friendly?
Hydrogen vehicles can’t compete in a key area: price, while having benefits over battery electrics or gasoline automobiles in terms of quicker filling, less weight, and greater range. The cost of a typical municipal bus could be $450,000. Similar standards for a hydrogen bus cost more like $1 million.
Lewis Fulton, a specialist in transportation at UC Davis, claims that hydrogen “presents numerous separate chicken-and-egg challenges simultaneously.
He asserted that there won’t be more hydrogen fuelling stations until there are more vehicles built and bought. Furthermore, unless there are sufficient gas stations, customers might be concerned about getting stranded and may not feel safe operating the vehicles.
The only solution, according to Fulton, is a really strong policy push. “In the state, there is already one going on, but I’m not sure if it’s big enough.
As part of its ongoing conflict with the Trump administration, which last year took away the state’s jurisdiction to establish its own tailpipe pollution rules, California’s efforts to promote the market for hydrogen cars could be hindered. Car manufacturers who supported looser emissions regulations with the federal government will pay a price by having their vehicles removed from the state’s fleet.
Toyota, which sided with Washington, would be excluded at a time when the business is stepping up its hydrogen program and is anticipated to dramatically increase customer awareness of hydrogen vehicles due to its position as a major multinational automaker.
Supporters played minimized the problem. Eckerle acknowledged that there was an issue. He continued, however, that there has been no sign from automakers that they plan to back out of their commitment to producing hydrogen-powered vehicles.
How far can a Mirai travel?
The astounding EPA-estimated driving range of the new 2022 Toyota Mirai is achieved by fusing hydrogen with oxygen from ambient air. The hydrogen fuel tank that interacts with the air entering through the grille is at the center of the new Toyota Mirai 2022. From here, it flows to the fuel cell stack, where oxygen from the intake and hydrogen undergo a chemical reaction to produce electricity. This produces the power required to move the new Toyota Mirai in 2022. The new 2022 Toyota Mirai XLE and 2022 Toyota Mirai Limited both feature EPA-estimated driving ranges of up to 402 miles and 357 miles, respectively. Just consider how far you could go with a full tank. How far will you travel and where will you go?
Why is the Mirai priced so low?
The Toyota Mirai is one of only two hydrogen-powered automobiles that are currently being produced, making it relatively special. Although hydrogen technology is by no means new, it has only ever been utilized in concept cars, which makes Mirai a unique automobile.
We must examine every facet of operating and maintaining a hydrogen fuel cell vehicle in order to comprehend why the Mirai is so inexpensive (FCV). Even if you have no plans to purchase a Mirai, I urge you to read this article because the concept behind it is both fascinating and ground-breaking.
The simple answer is that the Mirai is affordable due to the significant incentives provided when purchasing a new model, the most popular three-year lease with free fuel, a dearth of charging stations, and some consumer skepticism over the technology.
Is buying Mirai worthwhile?
The Mirai: Is it a good deal? For the appropriate buyer, a hydrogen fuel cell car like the Mirai can be a fantastic value. The Mirai includes a significant fuel allowance, and the incentives and tax breaks can make leasing or purchasing one much more affordable.
Does hydrogen fuel have a lower cost than electric?
Despite being the most prevalent element in the cosmos, hydrogen is not present in its purest form on the Blue Planet. This means that in order to utilize it as fuel for our cars, we must first make it from other substances, such as water, natural gas, other fossil fuels, or biomass. Energy must be needed for this, and there are also financial and environmental implications.
On the one hand, we can cleanly produce hydrogen by reversing the electrolysis of water. The issue is that this energy-intensive method of separating H20 molecules from hydrogen to obtain hydrogen costs a lot of money. The net energy cycle can become very low in carbon, and the process becomes more ecologically benign, if this energy is able to originate from renewable energy sources like the sun or the wind. Another issue is the process’s efficiency, which is just 75% efficient and allows for 25% of electricity losses.
This is why electrolysis is more expensive than natural gas reforming, which is how most hydrogen fuel is produced today. The drawback is that the process produces toxic byproducts that contribute to global warming, such as carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide. Methane leaks during the extraction of natural gas are also not uncommon, despite the fact that they are becoming less common. Furthermore, these molecules provide around 25% of the world’s GHG emissions, making them 86 times worse than CO2 in terms of greenhouse gas emissions. In addition to having a negative influence on ecosystems and biodiversity, the process of extracting natural gasfrackingcan also taint water and produce small earthquakes.
How long does a Toyota Mirai’s hydrogen fuel tank last?
A 2021 Toyota Mirai established a Guinness World Record for the longest distance traveled by a fuel-cell vehicle without refueling by traveling 845 miles on a single hydrogen tank. There are a few restrictions on that record, though.
According to a press release from Toyota, the Mirai was primarily driven during rush hour. This allowed drivers to go very slowly, which increases the Mirai’s range. Additionally, it was mostly driven in Southern California loops rather than straight lines. According to Toyota, the record attempt took place during the two days of August 23 and 24, 2021, covering 473 miles on the first day and 372 miles on the second.
This was a very unusual driving style and was not at all practical in the actual world because the crew used hypermiling techniques to optimize range, such as turning off equipment and overinflating the tires.
The Mirai has a tank life of 357 miles in Limited form and 402 miles in XLE form, according to the EPA, with the LE earning higher fuel economy than the Honda Clarity. The figures obtained by Toyota, which are similar to a regular driving range that is more than double the EPA rating, won’t be experienced by most drivers.
Even yet, this is a noteworthy accomplishment all by itself. According to Toyota, the Mirai achieved 152 MPGe and traveled the distance on only 12.4 pounds of hydrogen. On a weight basis, that is less than the weight of two gallons of gas, or more than 420 mpg, with a gallon of fuel weighing roughly 6.3 pounds. The Mirai weights 4,255 pounds, which is significantly less than a comparable battery-electric vehicle for a large, premium sedan.
Additionally, Toyota claims that the Mirai produces “zero emissions” when driving and cleans the air.
A large portion of hypermiling entails, at the very least, traveling very slowly. But it’s a useful mental exercise to consider how much efficiency you might be giving up by adjusting to standard driving speeds and patterns.
Over the years, we’ve reported about a variety of hypermilers, such the Jaguar XJ-S driver who got 36 mpg or the pair that drove their Jetta TDI 9,505 miles across the United States while averaging 67 mpg. In a battery-electric vehicle, you may travel many, many more miles on a charge if you’re willing to drive slowly enough.
At least one possible fuel-cell device claims to have a 1,000-mile range while going to great lengths to achieve it. That supercar, the Hyperion XP-1, likewise boasts a stated top speed of 221 mph.
Stunts like the hypermiling one match Toyota’s continuing efforts to advance fuel cells. As part of kits to replace the diesel engines in Class 8 semi trucks, the business recently announced its intention to manufacture fuel-cell modules in the United States. As with previous record runs, this most recent experiment doesn’t really prove much, but the numbers are what matter.