Toyota's hydrogen commitment reinforced by new mk3 fuel-cell system announcement

Hydrogen cars are still very much a niche offering, but Toyota is demonstrating its continuing commitment to the fuel by revealing a new third-generation fuel cell system.

Toyota says the new system has been designed to meet the needs of both passenger and commercial vehicles, and that it features improvements in performance and fuel efficiency while also providing a ‘significant reduction’ in production costs over its predecessor. 

The company has sold only 232 units of its Mirai hydrogen car in the UK since 2015. At £64,695, the BMW 5 Series-sized hydrogen car isn’t cheap, but the bigger stumbling block has always been the shortage of hydrogen filling stations – there are just nine. 

Globally, Toyota has sold more than 28,000 Mirais and customer feedback has been included to improve the new hydrogen fuel cell system. Durability is two times better than before with Toyota claiming a comparable performance to diesel engines along with a ‘maintenance-free’ design. A 20 per cent improvement in fuel efficiency will allow for 20 per cent more cruising range – for reference the Mirai currently does 400 miles on a tank. Toyota also says a more compact design will also allow for a greater selection of possible uses. 

Toyota hasn’t said the new system will be implemented in a new Mirai, just ‘passenger vehicles’ as yet. However, more success for the technology may be found in the commercial vehicle sector or even ‘stationary generators, rail, and ships’ according to Toyota. 

The third-generation system will be introduced to European markets, alongside North America and China.

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