Is the hydrogen-powered Mirai a game-changer?
02/08/2016
It’s been given a seal of approval by none other than former London mayor Boris Johnson, and seems to pick up awards by the month – there’s no escaping the impact that Toyota’s first hydrogen fuel cell-powered car, the Mirai, has had since it was officially unveiled in the UK in 2015.
But although it comes from the company which is probably most widely associated with hybrid car engine technology, thanks largely to the Prius model, just how much of a game-changer could the Mirai be in finally bringing a solution promising zero-emissions motoring into the mainstream?
It seems that the technology behind the Mirai has certainly been heralded for its potential in contributing to a more eco-friendly motoring future, the car bagging a hatful of awards as testimony to the groundbreaking technology at its heart.
The Miral’s Roll Of Honour
Financial Times/ArcelorMittal Boldness In Business Award – Toyota carried off an honour here in the category honouring contributions to corporate responsibility and the environment.
By generating their own fuel from hydrogen, vehicles such as the Mirai will be at the centre of a future hydrogen-based society – at least that was the bold claim of Tony Walker, Deputy Managing Director of Toyota Manufacturing (UK) after receiving this award.
He said Toyota would pledge “to be pioneering this technology step by step and through co-ordinated dialogue with industry partners and government bodies”, and would seek to
“ensure that the benefits of new and emerging technologies can be more widely understood, appreciated and realised.”
World Green Car of the Year 2016 – This award was bestowed by a panel of 73 automotive journalists from 23 countries at the New York International Auto Show, which was staged in the spring.
At the time, another Toyota ‘top dog’, Karl Schlicht, executive vice-president, sales and marketing, for the firm’s European arm, said the award was “clear recognition of Toyota’s long term commitment to Fuel Cell, a convincing, safe and relevant mobility solution which is leading the way to the development of the ultimate ECO car.”
Environmental Award of the Year 2015 – This award was bestowed by a panel of Austrian journalists, again in recognition of the Mirai as a herald of the future of environmentally-conscious power for cars.
This time, it fell to Toyota Europe’s vice-president of research and development, Gerald Killmann, to emphasise the potential long-term gains which could be at stake through the research which has gone into the car. He said: “If we want to secure the future of the automobile as flexible, personal and clean transport for the next 100 years, we need to consider which energy can power our cars tomorrow.”
Innovation of the Decade 2015 – Coming from the Center of Automotive Management in one of the world’s biggest car markets – Germany – this award placed the Mirai right at the top of the tree in terms of its ground-breaking potential from no fewer than 8,000 new innovations in the automotive industry seen between 2005 and 2015. Rankings were based on their relevance to the market and industry and an evaluation of their innovativeness.
What Car? Best Technology Award 2016 – Holding up Toyota as an early champion of the hydrogen fuel cell technology at the heart of the Mirai, and its “bravery in trying to force change”, according to editorial director of What Car?, Jim Holder, this award was designed principally to counter critics of the system’s potential who say that the current paucity of charging facilities, likely high cost of developing them, the complex nature of the technology and consequent expense of car using it are major reasons why it does not – yet – hold the key to the future of sustainable motoring.
“Our judges’ counter to that was that all-new technologies need early champions, and that Toyota’s bravery in trying to force change is to be applauded,” Holder added.
Armfuls of Awards – But A Handful of Buyers?
Given all these awards, it seems somewhat ironic that Toyota fixed the number of Mirais it was prepared to sell in the UK at a minuscule 12 in 2015, rising to just 15 in 2016.
But then, when you add in the price tag of £66,000, you can see why this car’s importance is more likely to be as a showpiece for technology which proves that zero-emissions motoring is a viable aim than as the single car which will break the mould. Therefore, the people who take ownership of this select batch of cars will be carefully chosen on the basis of the contribution they can make to what’s in essence currently a long-term research project, rather than a major attempt to yet secure a place for the Mirai in the mass-market mainstream.
What’s clear, however, is that the Mirai is widely considered an important precursor of the direction of research and innovation for family cars of the future, in a similar way that technology first seen on Formula 1 cars often eventually filters down into the production models we see on our roads.
The very fact that ‘Mirai’ translates from Japanese into English as ‘the future’ is perhaps a subtle way in which Toyota is signifying that, while it has high hopes for the fuel cell technology showcased in the car, it is still at the time of writing, a pre-production project.
But given the potential implications it could possibly have for the achievement of global targets for the reduction of greenhouse gases, it seems only right that Toyota would want to embark on a large-scale public testing programme for the Mirai, rather than going for a ‘big bang’ approach, and putting it straight on general sale.
Issues Still To Be Resolved
However, the fact that Honda is almost simultaneously developing its own fuel cell vehicle, the Clarity, and going down a near-identical path in bidding to gain acceptance of the technology is probably a major reason why Toyota has decided to err on the side of caution – with the current asking price for the car also sure to be contributing to its reticence to sanction a full public release for the car.
Yet, as Autocar’s journalists remarked when they got their first chance to put the Mirai through its paces: “If almost any other car maker had created a vehicle of such significance, you’d have heard more about it. But so casual is Toyota’s attitude to its capacity to innovate that the occasion is at risk of passing unrecognised.”
One of the main challenges which will be addressed by these early trials is sure to be the weight of the equipment needed to store and process the hydrogen which provides power for the car. As the testers pointed out, with a weight of 1.8 tonnes, the Mirai is getting close to the limits of what a standard beam axle can be expected to support.
As you might expect, the area where sacrifices have been made to accommodate the kit needed to store and channel the gas used for power is in the space on offer for carrying luggage, but otherwise, the critics note, this “hardly detracts from the base-level delivery of a usable and rather pleasant interior.”
But How Does It Drive?
Driving-wise, Autocar says the experience of being behind the wheel the Mirai is little different from that in any other hybrid car. The greatest amount of noise is generated when the car is accelerating, but otherwise, the car impressed the testers with its quietness.
The smooth feed-in of power “makes the Mirai feel a touch brisker than its 10.1-second showing to 60mph suggests”, said the review.
A major point in its favour is likely to be the consistency of the economy levels experienced by the testing team, which “virtually eradicates the range anxiety you might get with a like-for-like EV – despite a conspicuous shortfall in the number of places to refuel”, they noted.
Early reviews pointed up the fact that the Mirai’s suspension set-up was nowhere near as advanced as its propulsion system – but we should bear in mind that such criticisms are based on samples of a car built before any decision has been taken on how far production will be scaled-up.
The reviewer concluded, diplomatically: “The car is by no means irredeemably compromised; it just prefers being driven gently.” And to most prospective Mirai owners, that’s hardly likely to be a deal-breaker.
Carefully Tailored To Its (Early) Audience
With just nine sites likely to be on-stream for delivering the hydrogen to power the car by the end of 2016, Toyota is, for now, treating the Mirai project as an extended evaluation process.
Two stations in the vicinity of London – at Heathrow, west of the city, and Hendon to the north – and another in Swindon were the only ones available for the purpose at the time of writing. Clearly, though, these sites have been designed specifically to address concerns over the potential for gas escapes, with the gas being delivered via a high-pressure hose, which shuts off automatically once the tank is full.
And that tankful can be reasonably expected to give the Mirai a range of 300 miles, which isn’t too far off the equivalent consumption figure achieved by a conventionally-powered car. For the time being, though, it’s likely to mean it will be some time before you get to see a Mirai anywhere north of, say, Birmingham.
Yet despite all the reservations raised by this initial test, Autocar concludes: “If we could hand out a bonus star for consistently breaking down technological barriers, paving the road down which a whole industry may subsequently travel, we’d give it to Toyota.”
So Does The Mirai Take Automotive Progress Forward?
On the basis of admittedly limited early experience, the answer is unequivocally ‘yes’. Faced with a future of diminishing oil reserves, and in our major cities at least, increasing pollution, it’s probably the clearest vision yet of a potential different future direction, and one which could see sustainability firmly placed at the centre of car research and design.
As Autocar’s chief tester, Matt Saunders, says in his summary of his experience with the car: “Putting a price on the clean slate that sustainably-produced hydrogen provides for the car gives you a clear view on the bigger picture.”
We may be some way off being able to contemplate a mass switch-over to zero-emissions motoring – but the Toyota Mirai is clearly the boldest advance yet in this direction. It’s to be hoped for the sake of the future of the planet that the pioneering spirit which the car represents remains undimmed.
And following Toyota’s success in bringing hybrid technology into the motoring mainstream – a step which has been rewarded with nine million hybrid vehicle sales worldwide since 1997 – who’s to say that the world’s biggest car manufacturer can’t repeat the feat of taking the next big step forward?
Do you like the idea of emissions-free motoring? And if it has to come at a higher cost – for the time being at least – would you be prepared to pay it? Let us have your thoughts.