Toyota and hydrogen are not necessarily as beautiful a love story as in the case of the hybrid, but the Japanese firm was one of the first to offer a car equipped with this technology to individuals.
Unfortunately, with a price tag of 70,000 to 80,000 euros, Mirai logically didn’t know how to find its audienceeven if some taxi companies, such as Hype, for example, have been able to take advantage of this technology, in particular in Paris with a charging station installed in the very center of the capital.
Direction to communal services
However, due to the very expensive technology, the overall relative environmental impact and the private, if not non-existent, charging network, Toyota admitted that it didn’t necessarily find the right formula with the Miraialthough, from a pragmatic point of view, this is a good car.
For this reason, Therefore, Toyota is refocusing its research and development on hydrogen for SUVs. Here’s what the brand’s technical director Hiroki Nakajima told our colleagues at Autocar during the Tokyo Motor Show: “We tried with Mirai but no luck”– said the leader. “Hydrogen stations are very scarce and difficult to build, so we are not achieving the expected volumes with Mirai”.
“For medium-sized utilities, it’s easier to create a fueling network because it’s basically a predetermined and repeatable route from point A to point B”– said Hiroki Nakajima.
Hydrogen, too avant-garde technology?
However, our main character insisted that Toyota “I didn’t want to give up hydrogen cars” and looked for ways to reduce the size of components, including the fuel cell and tanks, to make it applicable to different types of cars and to expand its range.
According to Toyota, the latest generation hydrogen fuel cell under development will cost half as much as the current generation hydrogen cell and will last up to two and a half times that of a diesel engine.
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Source: Auto Plus
Robert is an experienced journalist who has been covering the automobile industry for over a decade. He has a deep understanding of the latest technologies and trends in the industry and is known for his thorough and in-depth reporting.