Toyota Mirai Owners; There Is No Fuel And We Want Out Of These Cars

ChasingCoral

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https://www.torquenews.com/8113/toy...VLp-pCxbiaT53jvuaDYUcac85ArnA9Ifxl_qYHv1bpTqM

By Peter Neilson Apr 1 2021 - 1:13am
Toyota Mirai Owners; There Is No Fuel And We Want Out Of These Cars
If you think running out of battery is a bad thing, at least you could plug in almost anywhere. Hydrogen, that game is getting ugly and fast, and Toyota Mirai owners are tired of playing it.

Range anxiety is not just for EV owners. And even now, it is not so much an issue, but you know what is? Hydrogen.

Toyota Mirai owners are reporting massive hydrogen outages, and Toyota has not said anything about how it will help take care of their promising technology. Here is what we know so far.

Mirai in Japanese loosely means the future. Ironically, this "future technology" is falling short of the mark. Mirai is a promising hydrogen fuel cell vehicle that gives petroleum-like fueling time and around 300+ miles of range.

A concept now turned reality has given the world a view of technology and even some a different kind of transportation altogether.
The issue is not the technology though, it is the infrastructure. Just ask the Mirai owners who are now suffering from almost no places to refuel.

I love everything about the hydrogen idea. I love the range, the economy, the fact that hydrogen is the most abundant element on earth, and that the tailpipe emissions are water. Everything about the car is awesome, EXCEPT.

The infrastructure needed to fuel the cars is almost non-existent. To make matters worse, the limited stations are on the fritz stranding Mirai owners who simply want to enjoy their alternative fuel vehicles.

Most of the stations are offline due to no hydrogen being available, but that is not even the worst of it. Currently, the way hydrogen is produced is from natural gas reformation. This wildly high energy process makes it very costly to "strip" hydrogen down and store it.

The energy required makes it difficult to process and puts far more strain on the California power grid (if rolling blackouts were not already enough.)

Conclusion
Toyota needs to get it together if hydrogen cars are part of the future they have dreamt about. I have driven them and love the idea, but it needs to get some backing behind it fast, or it will lose all possibility of becoming mainstream.

That is all for today. When you have customers asking to get out of the car they are in, you know that there is a problem. I hope the Mirai owners out there get the help they deserve.
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mattbostonmache

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Toyota and Honda spent zero effort on EVs.

They both had tepid efforts for fuel cell cars, but there is no infrastructure for this outside of Japan. But worse, as the article states, most hydrogen is produced from fossil fuels today. And then it has to be lugged around to fueling stations (by diesel trucks).

I think FCEV might make sense for long haul big rigs (if they can produce hydrogen on site near chargers using electrolysis).

Toyota in particular squandered their early 2000s green image from hybrids by not investing in EVs.
 

atikovi

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FWIW I tried to buy a Mirai that was in a salvage auction in New Jersey a few months ago. It had no damage so I assume it just ran out of fuel and didn't run. There are no public stations within 500 miles. Thought I could get it cheap, maybe $1500 or $2000 tops. Thing brought over $5000 which is almost what running ones in Cali sell for.
 

ARK

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The closest gas station to me happens to have a hydrogen station but I never liked how you still have to fill up with these vehicles. They also seem to not have the performance of BEVs.

I’m not sure why some of the Japanese automakers have pushed them to the extent they have over BEVs in recent years. Maybe in the 90s or earlier, if there had been an interest then, battery tech wasn’t good enough to build a BEV beyond a subcompact and so a FCEV would have been a reasonable alternative, but we seem to be well past that point now.
 

88 KILOWATTS PER HOUR

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Toyota and Honda spent zero effort on EVs.

They both had tepid efforts for fuel cell cars, but there is no infrastructure for this outside of Japan. But worse, as the article states, most hydrogen is produced from fossil fuels today. And then it has to be lugged around to fueling stations (by diesel trucks).

I think FCEV might make sense for long haul big rigs (if they can produce hydrogen on site near chargers using electrolysis).

Toyota in particular squandered their early 2000s green image from hybrids by not investing in EVs.
I agree that hydrogen tech is ideal for long haul big rigs. Not so ideal for the average commuter though.
 


DBC

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The closest gas station to me happens to have a hydrogen station but I never liked how you still have to fill up with these vehicles.
This. Since there is a hydrogen fueling station a mile from where I live I thought about getting a hydrogen vehicle. Then I realized that I would need to go to a gas station. End of that idea. One of the great benefits of a BEV is NOT having to go to a fueling station, thereby avoiding the worst consumer experience on the planet.
 

Raymondjram

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GM experimented with H2 by building over 100 Fuel Cell powered 2009 Chevy Equinox test vehicles. I have the Owners Manual of that vehicle and refueling takes several steps because the pump has to communicate with the vehicle. Thankfully Chevy did the Volt in parallel and did a better job.

You can read more about the Fuel Cell Chevy Equinox online.
 

ab13

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GM experimented with H2 by building over 100 Fuel Cell powered 2009 Chevy Equinox test vehicles. I have the Owners Manual of that vehicle and refueling takes several steps because the pump has to communicate with the vehicle. Thankfully Chevy did the Volt in parallel and did a better job.

You can read more about the Fuel Cell Chevy Equinox online.
Currently being developed for the military. The water can be captured for potable use. They have been working with Honda to bring costs down.

https://www.gmdefensellc.com/site/us/en/gm-defense/home/integrated-vehicles.html

https://www.gmhydrotec.com/product/public/us/en/hydrotec/Home.html
 

AllenXS

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HuntingPudel

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In the beginning I thought that the idea of a hydrogen-cell vehicle was good. Once I read more about the technologies involved, the less attractive it became vs. BEV technology. Sure, we have our drawbacks too, but by and large the scale tipped (for me) toward BEV.
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