Akihabara News (Tokyo) — Toyota Motor Company has renewed its flagship hydrogen-powered automobile with the launch of the second generation Mirai fuel cell electric vehicle (FCEV).
The original Mirai was unveiled in 2014, and this represents the first major upgrade of what Toyota calls “the ultimate eco-cars.”
The new Mirai is a five-seater with a range of about 850 kilometers, which is about 30% more than the first generation of the vehicle. Refueling with compressed hydrogen is said to take about three minutes.
Only about 11,000 Mirai cars have been purchased worldwide, and only about 3,700 of these were sold in Japan, disappointing earlier expectations.
The steepest barrier to wider adoption of the Mirai is thought to be its relatively steep price tag, and this is one dimension that hasn’t really been improved upon in the second generation model. The basic price tag is ¥7.1 million (US$68,000), tax inclusive, only slightly cheaper than its predecessor.
While the Mirai itself does not emit any carbon dioxide, producing only water and air as its emissions, the production of the hydrogen fuel itself is not necessarily carbon emissions free, and in that sense technological improvement is still needed to address the climate change risks of FCEVs.
There is also a need to build out the network of hydrogen refueling stations both in Japan and overseas.