2016 Toyota Mirai Review,Specification and price

Toyota Mirai

   Review

The Toyota Mirai is one of the first hydrogen fuel cell cars to go on sale in the UK. The name means ‘future’ in Japanese, and it’s part of the car maker’s plan to forge ahead with making alternative fuels available as soon as possible.
In this case it’s hydrogen, which has the huge benefit of being made available in pressurised form at a fuel station just like petrol or diesel. That means that even though the Mirai is powered by an electric motor, you top it up in a few minutes like a normal car – and it has a similar range, too, of around 300 miles.The fuel cell itself generates electricity by mixing hydrogen with oxygen, storing it in a battery and powering the motor just like any other Toyota hybrid. That means the only emission from the tailpipe is pure water. It periodically purges H2O from the system, and there’s even a button on the dash to get rid of it when you choose – to make sure it doesn’t drop out just as you pull into the garage at home.The Mirai is a four-seater saloon that sizes up with the likes of VW ’s Passat or the Ford Mondeo . That means the engineers had to work harder to get the complex components to fit, rather than adding them to an SUV – like the Hyundai ix35 FCV – where there’s more space to work with.

The electric motor provides 152bhp and 335Nm of torque, but the bulky batteries, fuel cell and motor mean it weighs around 1,850kg. That translates to a 0-62mph time of 9.6 seconds and a top seed of 111mph. But don’t be fooled by the figures; the Mirai’s instant torque off the line means it feels more than fast enough.

 The Mirai is based on the Toyota FCV (Fuel Cell Vehicle) concept car , which was unveiled at the 2013 Tokyo Motor Show .
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The unveiled FCV concept was a bright blue sedan shaped like a drop of water "to emphasize that water is the only substance that hydrogen-powered cars emit from their tailpipes." The FCV has a large grille and other openings to allow cooling air and oxygen intake for use by the fuel cell. According to Toyota, the FCV concept is close in appearance to the expected production version of the car. [15] The FCV size is similar to the Toyota Camry . [16] The FCV range is expected to be approximately 700 km (430 mi).According to Toyota, the FCV features a fuel cell system with an output power density of 3.0 kW/L, which is twice as high as that of its previous fuel cell concept, the Toyota FCHV-adv , delivering an output power of more than 100 kW , despite significant unit downsizing. The FCV uses Toyota's proprietary, small, light-weight fuel cell stack and two 70 MPa high-pressure
hydrogen tanks placed beneath the specially designed body. The Toyota FCV concept can accommodate up to four occupants. For the full-scale market launch in 2015, the cost of the fuel cell system is expected to be 95% lower than that of the 2008 Toyota FCHV-adv.

  Specification

Manufacturer's: Toyota

Production: 2015-present

        Body and chassis

Class: Mid-size

Body style: 4-door sedan

Layout: Front-engine, front-wheel-  
               drive layout  


          Powertrain

Engine:  Fuel cell-powered 113 kW
              (152 hp) 335 N·m (247 lbf·ft)

Transmission: 1-speed

Battery:  1.6 kWh Nickel-metal    
                 hydride    

          MSRP

       US$57,500