Toyota Mirai Fuel-Cell Car 5 Minutes to get 300 Miles

Toyota Mirai Fuel-Cell Car 5 Minutes to get 300 Miles

It sounds almost saccharine, the unbridled self-confidence with which Toyota directors talk about alternative fuels and the future. Take, as an example, the closing notes of President and CEO Akio Toyoda’s speech at a press event in Newport Beach, Calif., going to the Los Angeles Auto Show, by which he revealed the name of the company’s new hydrogen fuel-cell vehicle, the Mirai.

Toyota Motor Corp. (7203) claimed it’s selected the name “Mirai,” meaning “future” in Japanese, for a fuel-cell powered sedan that travels 300 miles (483 kilometers) with a hydrogen tank which can be refilled in under five minutes. The car is forecasted to shop for the equal of about $60,000 while it goes on sale in Japan, in which it will qualify for a $20,000 government rebate. It is expected to retail for a similar amount in the U.S.

Toyota is the most vocal proponent of hydrogen fuel-cell autos as the appropriate zero-emission option for future transport. The automobiles emit only just water vapor since oxygen from the air is mixed with hydrogen fuel to make electric power in the fuel cell.

To support promote fuel-cell sales, California offers to establish more than 50 hydrogen fuel stations within couple of years, partly with money support from Toyota together with other automakers. Toyota will even begin working with Paris-based Air Liquide SA to build 12 fueling stations in five northeastern U.S. states, the corporate said in its report.