LONDON – World’s first mass-produced hydrogen-powered car Toyota Mirai will be introduced in UK this autumn. It is coming to Britain this autumn, just in time for the opening next month of the UK’s first 24-hour, public hydrogen-refuelling station, just off the M1 near Sheffield. It has taken two decades of research and development to get this state-of-the-art four-door car on to the road. It has a range of 300 miles – compared with about 75 miles for most electric cars – and its 5kg hydrogen tanks can be refuelled in five minutes. At the Toyota headquarters in central Tokyo, the Mirai – which will sell for about £56,000 – sits in the car park next to a fleet of conventional saloons and mini-vans. Seiji Sano, head of the automotive giant’s research and development wing, knows that getting the hydrogen car to catch on will be tough, regardless of its revolutionary styling and technology.
“The challenge now is to make the hydrogen car become normal,” said Mr Sano, who has been with Toyota since the early 1990s. “Just as we did with the hybrid through the Prius.
The Mirai actually has the same battery and motor as a hybrid vehicle, but it’s the fuel cell that is revolutionary.”
The cell, located under the driver’s seat, creates electricity from an electrochemical reaction between hydrogen and air. Hydrogen gas is compressed and stored in high-pressure tanks at 10,000psi. It is then sent through a membrane that separates hydrogen atoms into electrons and protons. The electrons produce an electric current to drive the motor in the same way that a battery drives an electric car.
The “freed” protons then combine with oxygen on the other side of the membrane and exit the tailpipe as water.
“This has required collaboration with chemical engineers and chemical firms in a way no car maker has done before,” said Mr Sano. The car is only as green as the hydrogen it is filled with, and most of the gas comes from fossil fuels. As a result, the Mirai’s environmental credentials are about the same as those of a traditional hybrid.