Some automobiles are pricey to buy, while others are pricey to own. The average price of hydrogen fuel is $16 per kilogram, thus filling up a Toyota Mirai might be rather expensive. Since the Mirai typically holds 5 pounds, your cost would be about $80.
It should be mentioned, nevertheless, that hydrogen fuel is significantly more effective than gasoline. On the interstate, a Mirai can do 71 miles per kilo, and 76 in the city.
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Does your Toyota Mirai have gas?
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.
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.
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.
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 only 75% efficient and allows for a 25% loss of electricity.
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 account for around 25% of the world’s GHG emissions, making them 86 times worse than CO2 in terms of 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.
Is buying Mirai worthwhile?
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.
Where can a hydrogen car be fueled?
Hydrogen, the most prevalent element in the universe, is one of the cleanest and greenest fuels for motor vehicles. This is made possible by modern fuel cell technology, which utilizes compressed hydrogen gas in electric automobiles. Hydrogen reacts electrochemically in a fuel cell to create electricity that powers the vehicle. Water vapor is the only waste material.
Fueling is Easy and Fast
On a full tank of hydrogen, fuel cell electric vehicles typically have a range of 300 miles or more, and they can refuel in 3 to 5 minutes. Fueling with hydrogen takes no longer or requires less effort than fueling a regular car. See how fuel cells are unique from other forms of electric vehicles.
The majority of hydrogen refueling stations are situated inside of already-existing gas stations and use dispensers with a similar appearance but a different nozzle and hose.
California has more than 40 hydrogen stations as of October 2019, and more stations are being built. The network is growing, but the stations that are now available are mostly concentrated in key markets and in places that would facilitate statewide and vacation travel.
Fueling Costs
Fuel cells are roughly 2.5 times more efficient than gasoline engines, despite the fact that hydrogen is currently more expensive than gasoline. The majority of fuel cell car manufacturers also give three years’ worth of free fuel with a vehicle as an added incentive.
Hydrogen Production
Since hydrogen is always bound to other elements, using it in a fuel cell requires separating and purifying the hydrogen through a procedure. This has numerous alternatives, and there are numerous sources of hydrogen, many of which are renewable and low- to zero-carbon.
In the current market, industrial gas businesses that make hydrogen from natural gas are the main suppliers of hydrogen. No of the technology utilized to produce hydrogen, fuel cells are so much more efficient than gasoline-powered engines that the overall greenhouse gas emissions are significantly reduced (at least by half).
California is a global leader in the production of hydrogen fuel that is 100% renewable, and there are numerous efforts in place to help with this goal.
Incentives
Electric vehicles powered by hydrogen fuel cells are eligible for numerous fantastic customer incentives. The biggest standard reimbursement offered by the Clean Vehicle Rebate Project for fuel cell electric vehicles is $5,000. Additionally eligible for the Clean Air Vehicle decal allowing solo access to carpool lanes are fuel cell vehicles. Find further advantages for electric vehicle owners in California.
How long does it take a Mirai to refuel?
If you’re wondering who would actually operate a hydrogen fuel cell vehicle, I’m pleased to inform you that my most recent car, the Toyota Mirai, was one. Many people were curious about my experience driving this automobile, so I’ve addressed some of the most frequent inquiries I’ve gotten about it:
First of all, you should be aware that hydrogen fuel is measured in kilograms rather than gallons. A Mirai receives roughly 66 MPGe (miles per gallon equivalent) of hydrogen gas on a full tank, which weighs about five kilos.
The cost of the fuel isn’t low because the business is still in its early stages and is still learning how to store and transport hydrogen gas effectively. The price of one kilogram of hydrogen gas is roughly $16. However, Toyota provides hydrogen gas cards with a $15,000 value to every Mirai owner. You won’t have to pay for roughly three years’ worth of hydrogen gas thanks to Toyota! Additionally, it is hoped that as more research and development is conducted, hydrogen gas will become more accessible to drivers.
The only states with operational hydrogen stations are California and Hawaii, thus for the time being, you won’t see these vehicles outside of these two states. I live in California, where there are already 45 hydrogen stations open for business, with more in various phases of construction.
4) How do the gas stations look?
To begin with, hydrogen stations are normally found at petrol stations, and virtually every one of them that I have visited has only one hydrogen pump. This could present a problem if you’re in a hurry because you could have to wait unless there is another available pump nearby if there is a line of people in front of you. It just takes five to seven minutes to really fuel the vehicle.
The fact that the pumps run out is another disadvantage of using hydrogen fuel. To find out if pumps are “online” in California, visit the state’s Fuel Cell Partnership website. Tanks for hydrogen can only hold a specific amount of fuel throughout the day, so if you arrive at a tank without first checking to see if it contains fuel, you can find an empty pump. Although the website does a fantastic job of informing you when the tank will be refueled, if you’re in a hurry, it may cause significant delays to your plans. Infrastructure for hydrogen fuel needs to keep up with consumer demand and the state’s timeframe for achieving carbon neutrality in order to be able to integrate hydrogen fuel cell vehicles as a practical clean energy choice for motorists.
5) How does the car handle city driving versus long distance driving?
The car is incredibly efficient whether being driven around town or in the city. In line with electric vehicles, hydrogen fuel cell vehicles employ “regenerative braking,” an energy-conservation technique that leverages the friction produced by applying the brakes to refuel the vehicle’s battery. When I was driving locally, I only needed to fill up my tank once every two weeks, or roughly every 250 miles. On the other hand, these vehicles struggle while driving over extended distances with little braking. The motor behaves like a charged battery because it is electric. Consider your phone: if you use it continuously without a break, the battery will drain more quickly than if you use it intermittently. Without any means of replenishment (braking in this case), electricity depletes more quickly. For instance, if I were to go more than 30 miles per hour on the highway several times each week, I would need to refuel once every week (around every 150 miles). Driving efficiently, or doing so at a speed of no more than 65 miles per hour, is the only method to extend the life of your battery. Remembering the phone analogy, see it as if you were driving in “low power mode” to extend the battery’s life.
6) Additional details you should be aware of:
The most important thing individuals should be aware of is the need of conducting thorough research and being knowledgeable about the vehicle they will be purchasing. To make your automobile perform as effectively as possible for you, you must know how to drive it and how to fill it with gas. I ran out of power and had to be pulled to the closest hydrogen station because I didn’t do the required study and believed I could drive from Southern California to Northern California in the same manner as I would a gas-powered vehicle. Additionally, there have been times when I’ve had to wait longer than necessary to refuel at a hydrogen tank simply because someone couldn’t figure out how to fit the pump into the car. Sometimes people will attempt to fill up while the tank is still in the reset process since they are unaware that the pump needs around five minutes to reset after being used so frequently. As a result, they will leave thinking the tank is empty. Overall, there is still much to learn about hydrogen fuel cell cars, and when these cars are sold to drivers, the right education needs to be factored in along with research.