Toyota Mirai Review

Are hydrogen cars safe? 

Yes, they are. Hydrogen is complicated to store and transport safely, but the technology has come a long way, and of course hydrogen cars are tested to the same crash safety standards as electric and petrol cars. 

Is the Toyota Mirai environmentally friendly? 

Hydrogen cars produce nothing but water at the tail pipe, but currently producing hydrogen in large quantities creates a lot of CO2. However, it is possible to produce hydrogen using solar powered stations with no emissions at all. If we can do that on a large enough scale, hydrogen vehicles would be extremely environmentally friendly. 

How do you fuel up a hydrogen car? 

You refuel a hydrogen fuel cell car in a similar way to a petrol or diesel; at hydrogen fuel pump, in just a few minutes. You don't pour it on though as it's a gas. Instead a pump compresses it into a tank.

How much does it cost to fuel a hydrogen fuel cell car? 

Currently, hydrogen is more expensive than electricity. You’ll pay a similar amount per mile to fuel a hydrogen car as you will to fuel a petrol car doing around 40mpg. 

Why is the Toyota Mirai so expensive? 

Hydrogen cars are very costly to buy at the moment because the fuel cells are expensive to make. Toyota has made improvements on this with the 2021 Toyota Mirai, which now has smaller and more efficient fuel cells, as well as lighter, more affordable carbonfibre fuel tanks (there are three tanks in total). So while the Mirai is still too expensive next to petrol alternatives, it is around 20% cheaper than the previous Mirai and still compares well to battery electric cars like the Tesla Model S. Basically, hydrogen fuel cells are expensive now, but they’re getting cheaper!