Irwin Toyota: Latest on the Toyota Mirai
If you've been hoping to get your hands on Toyota's fuel cell vehicle, it sounds like you're going to have a bit of a wait. The Mirai won't be hitting the United States until (at the earliest) the end of the year, and the limited number of vehicles produced means you probably won't have an opportunity to even consider purchasing the car.
If you decide to head down to your local Toyota dealer and check out their new car selection, you won't be finding any Mirais sitting around. You should still learn some more about the vehicle, preparing for the inevitable transition to hydrogen-powered cars…
As Toyota continues it's pursuit to introduce "the world's first mass-produced fuel cell saloon" (as described by FleetNews.com), their hydrogen-powered Mirai (meaning 'future' in Japanese) arrived at the European Toyota Import Centre at Portbury last weekend. Considering how rare hydrogen stations are, the Mirai is only being offered to markets where an infrastructure is either developed or in the process of being developed, specifically the UK, Germany and Denmark.
Even then, its not particularly easy to get your hands on one of the vehicles. For instance, the limited number of Mirai's allocated for Britain have already been claimed by "business and corporate customers," as companies look to be among the first to inspect the innovative fuel cell technology (and, as FleetNews.com pointed out, the first to confirm Toyota's promise regarding "zero harmful tailpipe emissions"). Furthermore, Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield of TransportEvolved.com says the cars will also be used as "demonstrator vehicles.
As the website describes, the Mirai was built to compete with fuel-powered cars, and Toyota believes their fuel-cell technology will easily be able to keep up. The hydrogen fuel sits in 'high pressure tanks' and is used to "generate electricity in a chemical reaction with oxygen in a Toyota-designed fuel cell stack." This energy would be used to drive the car, and the only emissions produce via the tailpipe would be water vapor.
Furthermore, the company estimates that filling an empty tank would take about four minutes, and they believe that their hydrogen-powered car provides a similar range to any typical vehicles on the road (about 312 miles, as Bengt Halvorson of Business Insider reported).
It's hard to gauge a potential price for an eventual US release of the Mirai. Customers in Japan get a nearly $25,000 discount based on Government subsidies that support getting hydrogen-fueled cars on the road. There are no incentives in Germany, where, after tacking on the standard 19-percent purchase tax, the Mirai sells for an estimated $87,532. As Gordon-Bloomfield notes, this would make it nearly $5,000 more expensive than the entry-level Tesla Model S70. Halvorson suggests a $499 monthly fee for a lease with $3,649 down. Deliveries are expected to begin in the United States in October.
Even considering the hefty price, it's not reasonable to believe you'd get your hands on one of these cars. Gordon-Bloomfield says only 700 Mirais will be built this year in Toyota City, Japan, with the number expected to jump to 2,000 by 2016. By 2017, the number's only expected to increase to 3,000 cars produced annually.
Halvorson got an opportunity to drive the vehicle, commending the Mirai for it's "large, comfort-oriented" interior. He praised the "plush and quiet inside," while also taking note of the "capacitive controls." He said the car had no issue accelerating to 50 or 55 mph, but he noticed that the car got a bit "sluggish" when it was pushing 60. This would likely jive with Toyota's estimate that the 0 to 60 time is around 9.1 seconds. They're not particularly impressive numbers, but you also wouldn't be purchasing a hydrogen-powered vehicle for it's power or speed."
Furthermore, the driver focuses on the innovative technology utilized by the Mirai. Toyota's vehicle stores it's hydrogen at twice the pressure than previous fuel-cell vehicles. This has helped improve the vehicle's driving range, as well as reducing the irritating buzzing sound that often accompanied these types of cars. Toyota has also looked to improve the mechanics by using lighter and more compact tanks.
Toyota expects there to be about 10 to 15 hydrogen stations in the United States by the end of the year, according to Halvorson, and that includes the 48 stations that have already been planned and financed. The majority of those stations will be in California and the west coast, leaving the other parts of the country left out to dry.
What about the east coast? The NEESC (the Northeast Electrochemical Energy Storage Cluster) has developed a Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Development plan for a number of states, including New Hampshire (as described by Sebastian Blanco of AutoBlog.com). The plan is to have 110 stations in the region (which includes New England, New York and New Jersey) by 2025, and the hope is that the inclusion of stations will lead to an estimated 10,800 hydrogen vehicles hitting the road in the northeast.
“This marks the debut of a new age for clean mobility, a turning point in the history of the automobile," said Karl Schlicht, the executive vice president of Toyota Motor Europe. "With Mirai and its fuel cell technology, Toyota is working on delivering clean, safe and enjoyable mobility for the next 100 years. We are looking forward to the start of deliveries of the first Mirai to customers from September and to see the future taking shape on European roads.
“As with Prius 15 years ago, we are proud to bring yet another ground-breaking innovation to the marketplace.”
It's going to take some time for us to truly appreciate the car in the United States. If you live on the west coast, you may have an opportunity relatively soon. If you live on the east coast, the outlook is even more bleak. Luckily, there's a dedicated community that's pushing to get hydrogen vehicles on the road, so it shouldn't take too long for the technology to become mainstream.
In the meantime, check out Toyota's other selection of vehicles. If you're in the market, you should head down to Irwin Toyota in Laconia, New Hampshire.
The helpful staff will have you driving out of the lot in a new car in no time.