The Mirai FCEV may not look exactly like if and when it makes it way to India, but even this one looks striking. (Image - Gurdeep Bhalla)

In most circumstances, I wouldn’t call a few laps around a closed circuit a first drive. In this sparing case, I make an exception because the technology used in the Mirai is what I earnestly believe should be the future of electric vehicles. In this time of disruption, I believe that fuel cells will be a more wholesome step towards greener mobility than lithium-ion derived energy. To refine the idea, I think the Toyota Kirloskar officials we met during this short drive put it best in saying that, “electrification WILL be the future of mobility, but it won’t only be lithium derived”. They believe instead in a multi-layered model with fuel cells serving longer commutes and inter-city travellers, while lithium-ion could be used for smaller intra-city jaunts.

The Mirai we drove in Delhi is the now-older 2019 edition, if Toyota does find it viable for the Indian market, we should get the 2020 edition of the car which has a whole new presence in comparison. So, we shall skip over the way the car looks and most of the external features and move straight to the drive and driving performance of the Mirai.

Interiors are a nice place to be and could get even better with the newer generation of the Mirai, that’s on sale globally. (Image - Gurdeep Bhalla)

Once you’re behind the wheel, the cabin is a lot like a mix between a Camry and Prius, which is nice considering that both are quite comfortable, amicably loaded with a mix of infotainment and tech readouts and very very practical. Needless to say, you will have plenty of information to spew at unwary party guests about how much you’ve saved the environment. Nudge the right pedal, and the Mirai starts rolling with that (now) familiar electric urgency. That’s because the Mirai derives power from an electric motor just like any other EV. Only in this case, the Mirai uses the energy from the chemical reaction between Hydrogen stored onboard cylinders and air to create water as its only by-product.

H2 Filler nozzle (Image - Gurdeep Bhalla)

The fact that you’re generating the electricity that you need as you go means that you don’t need a massive battery pack. The Mirai is rated to go about 482kms on a full tank of Hydrogen (about 7kg by weight) using only a 9kWh battery from 34 cell modules battery, where the Kona (with a range of 450kms) needs a 39.2kWh battery with 180 cell modules. Batteries used are Nickel Metal Hydride instead of Lithium polymer, but we’ll leave that can of worms for another day. The 7kg Hydrogen tanks would take about the same time to fill as a regular fuel stop meaning, you don’t have to do the ridiculous mathematics electric car owners have to do every time they drive out of their garage. The problem is nobody is really producing Hydrogen in India right now, without scale the cost of H2 per kg on approx would be about Rs 900. Meaning at present, it would cost about Rs 6,300 to tank up, and that’s just not viable.

Under the skin, the Mirai is an electric car but uses a hydrogen generator to create electricity instead of a battery; the only bi-product is water. (Image - Gurdeep Bhalla)

At the moment, Toyota is betting heavy on IOCL’s roadmap to a hydrogen fuel economy hoping that scale could bring the price down to about 300-400 Rupees/kg at which point fuel cell driven cars like the Mirai will start to look like serious alternatives to the conventional-combustion automobile. That said there’s also a matter of the fuel cell generators which are expensive, especially when you are comparing them to a battery to motor models on conventional electric cars. So getting the price right, would be crucial if and when the cars like the Mirai make it to India.

The Mirai itself comes with a smorgasbord of safety features included as part of Toyota Safety Sense, which uses Lidar and Radar tech mixed with level one autonomy to prevent pedestrian collisions and inadvertent lane departures. But the big question on everyone’s mind is whether carrying a tank full of hydrogen in your car is safe? In the case, of the Mirai Toyota uses a special flexible polymer fibre to construct the tank, the flexing abilities of the tank is rated to several times what the tank might experience in a crash and are unlikely to decay over time.

Verdict

This Toyota Mirai may not make it to India, but this review was more an exercise in getting a conversation started about Hydrogen fuel and seeing what pros and cons it offers. On the one hand, you have much shorter refuels times, less range anxiety and performance that is just as good if not better. The only problem is availability of the fuel and the cost at which it is available right now. Even then, Hydrogen could potentially be mass-produced in India from Biomass. In which case FCEVs might just be the new normal as far as electric cars are concerned. It’s even that much better that the only by-product it makes is water!

Toyota Mirai FCEV Specs

-- Engine - Electric motor

-- Power - 152bhp

-- Max torque - 335Nm

-- Gearbox - Automatic

-- Wheelbase (mm) - 2,781mm

-- LxWxH (mm) - 4,889x1,816x1,536

-- 0-100kmph - 9.0s

-- Top speed - N/A

Toyota Mirai FCEV Price

-- N/A

Likes

-- Space

-- Features

-- Refinement

Dislike

-- Looks odd from certain angles

-- Handling