Hydrogen powered Mirai causes strong headaches for Toyota

As a strong advocate for hydrogen mobility, Japanese carmaker Toyota faces headwinds over how it promotes and deploys the Mirai. The company has to deal with several lawsuits in California, while a group of scientists wrote an open letter asking to replace the vehicle as the official Olympic Games car.

Hydrogen isn’t without merits, but while some car and truck makers are still investing in the technology, the hurdles are growing as one of the ongoing investors in clean technology in the passenger car category, Toyota, faces lawsuits in California, the only state in the US where its fuel cell Mirai is on offer.

It seems the carmaker has been forcing owners of the sedan, which sells underwhelmingly, to use fuelling stations exclusively from First Element. The carmaker is now accused of monopolizing the pricing of the provided hydrogen. A group of taxpayers claims the company implied elevated standards for other players, which “prevented it from operating” while the station met state-mandated rules.

‘Unusable’

The new class action comes on top of an older one. Only last month, a group of Mirai owners filed a plaintiff, accusing the automaker of misleading marketing about the usability of its hydrogen fuel cell vehicle (FCEV). Frustrations are numerous, including a lack of operational refueling stations, high hydrogen fuel costs, and the Mirai’s underwhelming range, which they argue makes the car nearly “unusable” for daily driving.

Despite Toyota’s claims that refueling would be as simple as gasoline, owners face frequent issues such as long drives to find stations, broken equipment, and incompatible fuel cards, often resulting in the need for tow trucks and alternative transport. Additionally, hydrogen fuel can be unavailable for days, and refueling can take hours due to hydrogen pumps freezing and locking onto vehicles.

Derailing green credibility

If the above reality check already raises concerns about the usability of hydrogen technology, a group of scientists from the Center of Sustainable Road Freight further undermined Mirai’s green credentials in an open letter.

They claimed the car’s promotion as the ambassador vehicle for the Olympic Games in Paris is misleading the general public about the actual cleanliness of hydrogen mobility. They wrote, “Hydrogen cars derail the green credibility of the Paris Olympics.”

Numerous scientists signed the letter, which was also sent in copy to the mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, reputed for her clean mobility efforts. The underwriters stated that current hydrogen cars emit up to 30% more CO2 than conventional cars with combustion engines due to today’s supply almost entirely extracted from natural gas.

Referring to the “failure” of the “First Hydrogen Games” in Japan in 2020, they conclude that running all the courtesy and shuttle vehicles on diesel instead of hydrogen would have resulted in better well-to-wheel emissions.

Infrastructure too complex and costly

Taking the debate to its peak, the scientists further claim that even in the case of green hydrogen, the energy carrier hydrogen is a “failed opportunity cost” as a fuel cell car requires three times more renewable electricity than when it is directly put into motion in a battery-powered vehicle.

Lastly, they paint a doom outlook for deploying refueling infrastructure, pointing out that the complexity and colossal investment don’t pay off. They’ve asked the Olympic Games organization to replace the Mirai with a battery-powered option as the ambassador vehicle. It’s a good thing that Toyota also brought the bZ4X and Lexus RZ to Paris.