Toyota Mirai | India’s first hydrogen fuel cell vehicle is here

Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari unveiled the sedan. The Mirai is the brand’s flagship FCEV, and has been launched as a pilot project with the aim of promoting green hydrogen as a viable alternative fuel for the future.

Toyota has launched the Mirai, making it India’s first hydrogen fuel cell EV (FCEV). Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari, who unveiled the sedan, also announced that Toyota’s recently launched Camry Hybrid (the only model of the Camry sold in India) will be flex-fuel compatible in the near future.

The Mirai is the brand’s flagship FCEV, and has been launched as a pilot project with the aim of promoting green hydrogen as a viable alternative fuel for the future. Toyota has launched the pilot in collaboration with the International Centre for Automotive Technology – India’s state-run automotive testing, certification and R&D service organisation based in Gurugram. Now in its second generation, the sedan is powered by a hydrogen fuel cell, which generates electric power using on-board hydrogen. On a full tank, the Mirai can go up to a claimed 600 kilometres.

Fuel cell EVs have long been considered as a more long-term energy solution when compared to battery electric vehicles, given that they do not require long charging times, and can be fuelled-up from a hydrogen fuel station in the same time it takes to fill a tank with petrol or diesel. However, for hydrogen to be sustainable as a fuel source, it must be generated not from coal but from renewable sources of energy, which in turn makes the manufacturing of hydrogen and, as a corollary, hydrogen fuel cell cars very expensive. At present the Central Government is also pushing for green hydrogen to be turned into a viable counterpoint to increasingly expensive petrol and diesel. At present Reliance Industries has announced plans of scaling up India’s renewable energy infrastructure with four dedicated gigafactories, one of which will target making electrolyzers for green hydrogen. An MoU signed between Larson & Tuobro and HydrogenPro in January 2021 also revealed a plan to jointly build an electrolyzer manufacturing facility.

Toyota Kirloskar said, “We at Toyota are committed towards achieving carbon neutrality by 2050. Our key goal is to achieve net-zero carbon (CO2) emission throughout the entire lifecycle that goes well beyond vehicles, addressing our entire value-chain including manufacturing activities. Further, we have adopted a holistic approach, and are actively engaged in sustainable initiatives that cover the shift to renewable energy, promoting a recycling-based society, reduction in water consumption and nature conservation activities. Thus, reinforcing our commitment to build a better, smarter, future, creating a net positive impact on the planet and society.”