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![2016 Toyota Mirai](https://assets.whichcar.com.au/image/upload/s--wPKmbm8r--/ar_2.304921968787515,c_fill,f_auto,q_auto:good/c_scale,w_768/v1/archive/whichcar/2016/11/29/8380/Toyota-Mirai-hydrogen-driving.jpg)
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TOYOTA has brought three of its forward-looking Mirai sedans to Australia to get government and buyers thinking about alternative fuels. We had a brief drive of one of them in Sydney.
- Mirai means “future” in Japanese. It is Toyota’s play at leading the push towards hydrogen-fuelled cars, much the way the Toyota Prius played an important role in the uptake of hybrid cars 20 years ago.
- The Mirai is an electric car that contains its own miniature on-board power station. However, unlike hybrid cars there is no regular engine. The power is generated by a hydrogen fuel cell, which combines pure hydrogen and electricity to perform a chemical reaction to create electricity and water.
![Toyota Mirai](https://assets.whichcar.com.au/image/upload/s--sAlUR5NO--/c_fill,f_auto,q_auto:good/c_scale,w_768/v1/archive/whichcar-media/5159/toyota-mirai-hydrogen-driving-front-side.jpg)
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- The Mirai has 113kW of power and 335Nm of torque. That gives it similar performance to a Toyota Corolla.
- There are no plans to sell the Mirai in Australia but at today’s exchange rate it would cost upwards of $80,000. The expensive part is the hydrogen fuel cell and the specially designed hydrogen tanks.
- The Mirai takes between three and five minutes to refuel. Refuelling it is similar to how you would fill an LPG car; plug in the nozzle and pull the trigger to start the flow of hydrogen.
- The Mirai has two hydrogen tanks, one under the rear seat and one between the rear seat back and the boot.
![Toyota Mirai](https://assets.whichcar.com.au/image/upload/s--mqaBv010--/c_fill,f_auto,q_auto:good/c_scale,w_768/v1/archive/whichcar-media/5160/toyota-mirai-hydrogen-fuel-bowser.jpg)
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- At today’s prices it’s estimated the Mirai would cost about $60 to refuel its two tanks that together store 5kg of hydrogen.
- The Mirai is Toyota’s first mass produced hydrogen fuel cell car but it’s not the first mass produced car of its type; that honour goes to the Hyundai ix35. The ix35 fuel cell was only sold overseas, including in Europe. In Paris there is a fleet of them operating as taxis.
- It may be Toyota’s most technically advanced eco car, but the Mirai is largely assembled by hand rather than robots.
- The only hydrogen refuelling station for cars in Australia is at Hyundai’s head office in Sydney. However, Toyota has created a portable refuelling station on the back of a Hino semi-trailer, which also includes a sizeable diesel generator.
![Toyota Mirai](https://assets.whichcar.com.au/image/upload/s--MGZ4Y3K8--/c_fill,f_auto,q_auto:good/c_scale,w_768/v1/archive/whichcar-media/5158/toyota-mirai-hydrogen-fuel-cell-engine.jpg)
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- The Mirai can be used to power external items, including camping gear, light, even a house. It has a power outlet in the boot that can be used to power other electrical items.
- Despite a focus on weight and fuel efficiency the Mirai’s coefficient of drag (which impacts how easily it slips through the air) is 0.29. That’s well below that of some electric cars; the Tesla Model S, for example, has a drag coefficient of just 0.24 (a lower figure represents better aerodynamic efficiency).
AND FOR A BONUS:
- The chemical reaction in the Mirai’s fuel cell creates about 60 millilitres of water for every kilometre it travels.
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