The new Toyota Mirai hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicle (FCEV) will offer an estimated 67 miles per gallon equivalent (mpge) or 28.49 kilometres per litre city/highway/ combined when it hits dealerships in California later this year.
The US Environmental Protection Agency has estimated that the Mirai has a driving range rating of 312 miles/499.2 kilometres on a single fill of hydrogen. The Mirai is the only zero emission electric vehicle on the market that tops the 300-mile range milestone.
Toyota North America CEO Jim Lentz announced the EPA-estimated performance figures at the Aspen Ideas Festival in Aspen, Colorado. “Toyota realised in the early 1990s that electrification was key to the future of the automobile,” said Lentz. “Just as the Prius introduced hybrid-electric vehicles to millions of customers nearly 20 years ago, the Mirai is now poised to usher in a new era of efficient, hydrogen transportation.”
The world’s first mass-produced hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicle, the Mirai is a four-door, mid-size sedan with performance that fully competes with traditional internal combustion engines – but does not use petrol. Instead, Mirai creates electricity on demand using hydrogen, oxygen and a fuel cell, and emits nothing but water vapor in the process.