PLANO, Texas, Oct. 10, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Toyota put the
auto industry on the road to electrification in 1997 with the first
Prius hybrid. Then, in 2015, it debuted the Mirai, the first
production hydrogen fuel-cell electric vehicle (FCEV) offered for
sale to retail customers in North
America (Mirai means "future" in Japanese). Now, Toyota has
revealed the second-generation Mirai, rebooted as a premium sedan
with cutting-edge design, technology and driving performance.
The Mirai is based on Toyota's premium rear-wheel drive platform
and debuts a dramatic yet refined coupe-inspired design with
improved passenger room and comfort. The second-gen Mirai will go
on sale in late 2020 and will deliver a significant evolution of
Toyota's hydrogen FCEV powertrain technology and offer a critical
look into the future of Toyota's lineup.
The dramatic change in design also signals a new driving
experience from Mirai. A targeted 30-percent increase in range is
achieved by an improvement in fuel cell system performance and
increased hydrogen storage capacity. Additionally, the new Mirai
will offer a more powerful, engaging and even quieter driving
experience than its pioneering forerunner.
"We have pursued making a car that customers feel like driving
all the time, a car that has emotional and attractive design
appeal, as well as dynamic and responsive driving performance that
can bring a smile to the faces of drivers," said Yoshikazu Tanaka, Chief Engineer of the Mirai.
"I want customers to say, 'I chose the Mirai not because it's an
FCEV, but because I really wanted this car, and it just happened to
be an FCEV.'"
At its core, the Mirai is an electric vehicle, but it never
needs to be plugged in to recharge. An FCEV generates its own
electricity onboard from hydrogen & oxygen, with water as the
only tailpipe emission. A fill-up takes just about five minutes at
an SAE-conforming hydrogen fueling station in California or Hawaii (with stations also planned for the
Northeast and other areas).
Toyota is working to develop a line of battery electric vehicles
(BEVs) and includes FCEVs in its electrification roadmap. Toyota
projects that fuel cell electric technology will one day be as
common as the company's hybrid electric technology.
Electrifying Style
The second-generation Mirai is built on a rear-wheel drive
platform, a major departure from the original front-wheel drive
version in terms of design. The new platform allows for a highly
rigid body that is lower, longer, and wider, with its bolder stance
accentuated by available 20-inch alloy wheels. The design is more
aerodynamic, yet also emotionally evocative without being
aggressive; zero-emissions doesn't have to mean dull.
The new Mirai's clean, modern profile was inspired by coupes,
yet the new design is also more approachable than before. By taking
advantage of the new platform, there's more interior space which
allows for five passenger seating for more family flexibility.
Accentuating the new Mirai's smoother, more sculptural form is a
brand-new blue color never before featured on a Toyota which
achieves its brightness and deepness through a multiple-layer
painting process.
The new Mirai's interior matches the refined tone of the
exterior, its clean and modern layout infused with a hint of
futurism without appearing off-putting. Drivers of current
conventional luxury models will feel immediately familiar behind
the wheel of the new Mirai. To that end, Toyota made the cabin even
quieter, enhancing the luxurious ambience.
The simple, flowing lines of the dash neatly integrate a higher
level of user tech in the new Mirai, including a standard 8-inch
digital combination meter and available digital rearview mirror
that displays images from a rear camera. The standard Toyota
Premium Multimedia system, which uses a 12.3-inch high-resolution
TFT touchscreen, includes navigation and a 14-speaker JBL sound
system.
Toyota's Fuel Cell Future
Toyota remains committed to hydrogen fuel cell technology as a
powertrain with tremendous potential. It's a scalable technology,
which means it can be made small enough to power a phone or large
enough to power a building, or anything in between. For example,
Toyota installed fuel cell powertrains into a test fleet of
Kenworth class-8 semi-trucks that can pull a maximum 80,000-lb.
load. These powerful, zero-emission big rigs are currently used for
moving freight in and around the Ports of Long Beach and Los
Angeles, California.
More FCEVs are planned to enter the market over the next few
years, as the cost, size and weight of fuel cell systems continue
to decrease and the fueling infrastructure grows. Among the
advantages of FCEV technology is a quick refueling time (about the
same as conventional gasoline-fueled vehicles).
What's an FCEV?
Even motorists familiar with EVs may still be unacquainted with
FCEVs. The easiest way to understand an FCEV is that it is a
"plug-less" electric vehicle. There's no need to charge the
battery, which can take several hours in an EV, even with fast
charging. Instead, the FCEV driver simply fills the tank in about
five minutes, not much longer than millions do every day with
conventional vehicles.
With an FCEV, however, the fuel is compressed hydrogen rather
than gasoline. A fuel cell system combines the stored hydrogen with
oxygen from the air, and the result is (1) electric current, (2)
heat, and (3) water.
Fuel cell technology predates the automobile by more than half a
century. In 1839, a Welsh physicist combined hydrogen and oxygen in
the presence of an electrolyte and produced an electric current. By
the 1960s, the technology was being used in America's Gemini and
Apollo spacecraft, where it provided crews with both electricity
and water from stored hydrogen and oxygen. It is used widely in a
variety of industries and applications around the world. Hydrogen
can be produced locally and sustainably.
Fuel cells had been studied for the automotive sector, but the
technology only recently became practical and cost-effective.
Toyota began its fuel cell development around the same time as the
original Prius 20+ years ago, and the Mirai shares some of the
technology & components from the company's hybrid program.
Toyota developed the solid-polymer electrolyte fuel cells used in
the first- and second-generation Mirai models, and, to help foster
FCEV proliferation, the company has released its patents,
royalty-free.
The fuel cell is composed of an anode, a cathode, and an
electrolyte membrane. Hydrogen is passed through the anode, and
oxygen through the cathode. The hydrogen molecules are split into
electrons and protons. As protons pass through the electrolyte
membrane, electrons travel along a circuit, generating an electric
current and heat. At the cathode, the protons, electrons, and
oxygen combine to produce water molecules. There are no other
byproducts, just pure water.
Vehicle
name
|
Length
(in.)
|
Width
(in.)
|
Height
(in.)
|
Wheelbase
(in.)
|
Driving
system
|
Passengers
(people)
|
Range
|
MIRAI
Concept
|
195.8
|
74.2
|
57.8
|
114.9
|
Rear Wheel
Drive
|
5
|
A target of a 30%
increase from the current generation
|
About Toyota
Toyota (NYSE:TM) has been a part of the cultural fabric in the
U.S. and North America for more
than 60 years, and is committed to advancing sustainable,
next-generation mobility through our Toyota and Lexus brands.
During that time, Toyota has created a tremendous value chain as
our teams have contributed to world-class design, engineering, and
assembly of more than 38 million cars and trucks in North America, where we have 14 manufacturing
plants, 15 including our joint venture in Alabama (10 in the U.S.), and directly employ
more than 47,000 people (over 36,000 in the U.S.). Our 1,800 North
American dealerships (nearly 1,500 in the U.S.) sold 2.8 million
cars and trucks (2.4 million in the U.S.) in 2018.
Through the Start Your Impossible campaign, Toyota highlights
the way it partners with community, civic, academic and
governmental organizations to address our society's most pressing
mobility challenges. We believe that when people are free to move,
anything is possible. For more information about Toyota,
visit ToyotaNewsroom.com.
Media Contacts:
Nicky Hamila
469-292-3596
nicky.hamila@toyota.com
Nancy Hubbell
469-292-4954
nancy.hubbell@toyota.com
For customer inquiries, please call: 800-331-4331
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SOURCE Toyota Motor North America