In an interesting development, it looks like the world’s largest automaker firmly believes that Hydrogen is the future of the automobile industry, not electric vehicles. While Toyota isn’t by any means shutting down their EV operations, they’re cutting back production by about 30% due to low demand while doubling down on their hydrogen fuel projects.
In fact, Toyota already has a hydrogen fuel cell vehicle (FCV) that’s currently in its second generation and is available for sale in Japan, the United States, and a number of European countries. Like an EV, the car has an electric motor but that’s where the similarities end. The Toyota Mirai’s electric motor is powered by a fuel cell instead of a battery.
The fuel cell uses compressed Hydrogen gas from the car’s tank and mixes it with Oxygen from the air to create electricity and water. After a long drive, you can hit a switch near the glove compartment that says “H2O” to release the water which is the only emission in this green vehicle. So while the Toyota Mirai is without a doubt, a great car, many customers have reported the refueling process to be pretty much a nightmare.
So much so that some Toyota Mirai owners have gotten together and sued Toyota for misleading them about how easy it would be to refuel these cars. In California, where the lawsuit has been filed, most Mirai owners report that the Hydrogen fuel pumps listed are either not operational, under maintenance or like in the case of Shell, have shut shop.
Toyota is aware of the problems related to hydrogen fuel pumps and have still not given up on H2 cars. Earlier this year in May, Toyota revealed a liquid Hydrogen fueled engine in a race car that completed a 24 hour endurance race on schedule. Liquid Hydrogen has a number of advantages over compressed Hydrogen gas, most important of which is the fact that it can be stored at room temperature and pressure.
With the engine being called a “great success,” Toyota has continued investing in the research and development of H2 fueled engines and announced a major breakthrough last month. While one of the main issues with H2 fueled cars is efficiency with the rising cost of Hydrogen, Toyota claims to have figured out a way to re-use the “boil-off” Hydrogen that gets wasted.