2015 TOYOTA Mirai 60 kWh (155 HP)

Vehicle Overview

In their quest for finding the best alternative fuels, Toyota launched the Mirai in 2014 at the Los Angeles Auto Show. The car showed was very fuel-efficient and

Toyota was responsible for the Prius and the hybrid fever that followed, even though it wasn’t the first hybrid car on the market. It was like Tesla, which made the electric cars counts even if it was not the first electric car on sale. The Mirai was not the first fuel-cell vehicle on the market, but it was a serious offer for ecologic transportation.

The futuristic look of the vehicle for the time when it was launched might have been compared with the futuristic look of the Prius when it was launched. Sleek, aerodynamic, and curvy shapes, the Mirai had a different look than any other car of its class on the market.

Inside the car there was a futuristic approach, with exposed carbon-fiber materials and displays for the instrument cluster and for the infotainment unit. Even the climate-control unit was with a touch-screen display.

The technology behind it was overwhelming. First, there was the security for the hydrogen tanks. They were bullet-proof. In order to be punctured, they had to be hit twice in the same spot by a .50 caliber bullet. The hydrogen stored in the tanks was mixed with oxygen into a fuel-cell and the result was electricity that power the car and water that goes away. The system was so clean that the water can actually be drink. Another important advantage of the vehicle was that it could have been filled-up in 5 minutes and that was something that an electric car could not do. The only problem was that the filling stations were rare and only in California and Hawaii.