Toyota Mirai

Discuss. Looks like a potential winner for a daily. right size.. Can power your house in the event of a power outage. I'd go drive one, but we need an infrastructure first.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUjYIaUGmqU&et_rid=239566885&et_cid=2388729&mid=9000627713771&cid=2000062404144&siteid=DMG_RLA_EM%3AEVENT%3ACES%3A201501&tdesc=miraiintroduction

http://www.toyota.com/fuelcell/fcv.html

http://www.gizmag.com/mirai-fcv-toyota/34785/

$57K is steep and gas is cheap now... but I imagine this could be cheaper on a per mile basis. Definetly a car for the early adopter.

Man is it ugly. That is all I have.

Eek.

I don't get FCVs. Everything I read says they produceMore CO2 than similar gas-powered cars when you factor in generation of hydrogen. They cost significantly more, get about the same range, and are difficult to refuel. I would get it if hydrogen generation was simple and clean, but it isn't. It also currently costs double to run per mile than a Prius, at $4 a gallon gas.

That is ghastly. Stop building this stuff and just build genuinely good honest cars.

That's awesome! I like cool/interesting cars! I won't buy it because I'm a cheap bastard-but I hope a lot of people do so I can play with one later.

Haven't read much about the tech but holy Hell it must need lots of cooling with that much grill!

Its only a matter of time...

$57k? Hmmm, yeah...NO.

I was wondering when this would come to market and figured the car would have a rather steep price tag but $57K is out of most buyer's range. I am still glad to see this come to be.

Paul

Fueled by Caffeine wrote: Discuss. Looks like a potential winner for a daily. right size.. Can power your house in the event of a power outage.

You can do that right now, if you had a voltage inverter and were sane with your electricity usage. (Power lights and water heater and gas furnace, but no electric range or microwave)

bastomatic wrote: I don't get FCVs. Everything I read says they produceMore CO2 than similar gas-powered cars when you factor in generation of hydrogen. They cost significantly more, get about the same range, and are difficult to refuel. I would get it if hydrogen generation was simple and clean, but it isn't. It also currently costs double to run per mile than a Prius, at $4 a gallon gas.

This. The press keeps writing articles saying that hydrogen fueled vehicles are the future, but they really don't make a whole lot of sense. Unless they build a pipeline from the sun, hydrogen is not readily available to use as a fuel source and has to be made from breaking down other things. Hydrogen is not really a fuel source, but more like along the lines of EVs in that the hydrogen is more of a energy storage medium, more akin to a battery than a tank of gasoline. Hydrogen powered cars are essentially coal powered cars. I like the idea and the technology, but think that people selling the concept don't get it.

I would like to have a fuel cell that converts natural gas to electricity powering my house. That seems like useful and obtainable technology that if widely adopted would re-shape how energy is generated, transmitted, used and stored in this country. Hydrogen cars....not so sure about them.

Why is this particular one have to be so ugly?

Man, I haven't seen over-styling like that since Pontiac went away. Well, except the C7.

In reply to DrBoost:

You can have that 'thing' and I'll take the c7. I'm not sure what's up with toyotas styling dept these days.

Its called the Wallace effect. A lot of car companies have caught it.

stuart in mn wrote: Eek.

Ugly aside, in the last few days I have been hearing noise about hydrogen fueled cars. I thought they were pretty dead, due to the lack of a fueling infrastructure, and then I see this video.

Did something change that I am not aware of?

Did anyone else enjoy the "pace car" footage? They tried oh so hard to make it exciting. All I saw was understeer trying to get out of the course.

NOHOME wrote: Ugly aside, in the last few days I have been hearing noise about hydrogen fueled cars. I thought they were pretty dead, due to the lack of a fueling infrastructure, and then I see this video. Did something change that I am not aware of?

Toyota can only make ugly boring cars, so they are looking to shift attention to something else?

I will take the Honda that has is already on it's second iteration.

NOHOME wrote: Ugly aside, in the last few days I have been hearing noise about hydrogen fueled cars. I thought they were pretty dead, due to the lack of a fueling infrastructure, and then I see this video. Did something change that I am not aware of?

I think Toyota hit its head and forgot that hydrogen cars are a crappy idea.

The car costs more than an EV and the fuel costs about as much as gasoline, and is a lot harder to find than a wall socket...I don't know what I'm missing either

My guess is that the Toyota marketing people saw how the second generation Prius sort of set the stage and established the de facto look for a hybrid car (2nd generation Insight, Ford C-Max, atc.) and they figure there needed to be a certain look that could be identified with FCVs. That Honda that Flight Service posted just looks like a Passat. The Toyota thing looks like something new. Yes it is unjustifiably ugly, but it sticks out in a sea of similarly styled cars to appear instantly different, and that is what I would guess their goal was.

it's the only car that I've ever thought needs bigger wheels

It looks like an Opel Omega A(1986–1993) in profile. I cannot find a simple side shot of an Omega for direct comparison.

ZOMG!!! It produces the BIGGEST GREENHOUSE GAS that there is!!! Much more GLOBAL WARMING causing than, say, CO2. It MAKES WATER VAPOR!!!!!