- Talked about priced to move: Toyota is offering a 70% discount on its Mirai in California
- A US$17,000 asking makes it one of the cheapest new cars Stateside—plus there’s $15k in free fuel
- Catch is, refuelling stations can be hard to come by, even if the Mirai has a range of 647 km
The alien Toyota Mirai, fuelled by hydrogen and only available in select markets, stands as reminder that humanity has yet to effectively figure out an affordable way to transport and store hydrogen. After all, as the most abundant substance in the known universe, it should only make sense we try to fuel our vehicles with the stuff.
But, yeah, alert readers will, of course, know exactly how this has turned out. Hey – the old Betamax was also a superior product, but it lost out to VHS at the time. As innumerable racers will tell you, the person who wins doesn’t always have the best car.
This is why Toyota apparently feels the need to offer a 70% discount on the Mirai FCEV to customers in Southern California, a sum which drags the asking price of an XLE-grade model to just a skiff over US$17,000 in that market. On top of that, the manufacturer will also throw in a key-card pre-loaded to access $15,000 worth of free hydrogen, bringing the total opportunity cost of this deal down to less than some people splash out on a good trip to Costco. It makes the Mirai literally one of the most affordable new vehicles in the United States.
The problem is that, according to data from the Hydrogen Fuel Cell Partnership group, there are just 44 hydrogen stations available in all of California, at least through to the end of last November. Numerous more have received the green light for construction, but a grand total of two have shovels in the ground. Obviously, this is prohibitive for wide swaths of potential customers.
In fact, the challenges with hydrogen infrastructure and supply disruptions seem to be the key barrier to cars like this getting off the ground. The innovative Mirai is objectively a great car – most of us have driven one and found it to be perfectly cromulent – but an estimated 647-kilometre range is very limiting when it likely isn’t possible to refuel at yer destination.
Indeed, some eagle-eyed folks have spotted Mirai sedans for sale in places like Colorado, perhaps ending up there after an ill-planned adventure. Here in Canada, there is one fuelling station near Quebec City, and about a half-dozen near Vancouver.
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