The new Toyota Mirai hydrogen fuel cell vehicle has certainly proved it can go the distance by achieving 67mpg in official US combined city and highway driving calculations, with an estimated driving range of 312 miles on a single tank – a distance further than for any other zero-emissions car on the market.
Jim Lentz, Toyota North America CEO, announced the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) fuel economy rating for Mirai at the Aspen Ideas Festival in Colorado this week. It confirms that Mirai is the only zero emissions electric vehicle on the market capable of exceeding 300 miles on one fill.
Mr Lentz said: “Toyota realised in the early 90s that electrification was key to the future of the automobile. Just as Prius introduced hybrid-electric vehicles to millions of customers nearly 20 years ago, Mirai is now poised to usher in a new era of efficient, hydrogen transportation.”
Mirai is the world’s first mass-produced hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicle, a four-door saloon with performance that competes with traditional internal combustion engines. Instead of using petrol, Mirai runs on electricity created on demand by hydrogen fuel and oxygen. The only emission produced by this process is water vapour.
Toyota will introduce Mirai in limited numbers in the UK and other selected European markets later this year, following its launch in Japan and, from this summer, California.