Dusseldorf The gas station attendant shakes his head in amusement. A hydrogen filling station? Here? In search of fuel, the navigation system of my Toyota Mirai II led me to an Aral gas station in Bochum. The only thing I can’t do here is fill up with hydrogen. You could probably never come here.
Finding a gas station for my test car is difficult: I can only find a nearby location using Google Maps. The number of hydrogen filling stations across Germany is still manageable with 92 locations. But there are four of them in the greater Ruhr area: Dortmund, Essen, Herten and Mülheim. I choose the shortest distance, 21 kilometers, travel time outside of rush hour: 25 minutes. Refueling used to be easier.
If you want to drive one of the few hydrogen cars that are sold in Germany, you need boy scout qualities – I learn that quickly in the test. I drive the Mirai II, as the type name suggests, for two weeks, the second generation of the production-ready fuel car from Japan.
The Mirai promises what many electric cars can hardly do: a long range with a short refueling time – and still largely emission-free mobility. Instead of fine dust and nitrogen oxide, only water comes out of the exhaust. Unlike battery-powered vehicles, the Japanese is not charged via a power cable, but generates its own energy using a fuel cell that converts the charged hydrogen into electricity and water. This is not as energy-efficient in terms of conversion, but it has the tank advantage.
Top jobs of the day
Find the best jobs now and
be notified by email.
When the first Mirai celebrated its premiere in 2015, it was a minor sensation. Because the world seemed to have been waiting for a hydrogen car with a fuel cell that was ready for series production. The name, which translated meant “future”, was not chosen for nothing. For Toyota, the model was an image carrier – while others relied on battery-powered electric cars, they went their own way.
In just a few minutes, the Mirai has filled its tank for 5.6 kilos of hydrogen.
No emissions, just water. The Mirai drives purely electrically with its fuel cell.
However, this was never reflected in the sales figures. The car was only registered a few hundred times in Germany – the Golf manages that in a bad week. The small number of hydrogen filling stations and the high price had a deterrent effect on many customers.
While battery-powered electric cars now account for around 14 percent of new registrations in Germany, hydrogen cars are at best a side note in the registration statistics.
The Mirai II, with its entry-level price of 63,900 euros, also benefits from a state purchase premium of 7,500 euros for the first time. However, if you order the higher equipment lines “Advanced” (from 73,900 euros) or “Executive” without a panoramic roof, head-up display or heated seats (from 66,900 euros), you have to do without them.
The new edition is intended to make the very futuristic model more suitable for everyday use, the manufacturer promises. The ambitious sales target of 30,000 cars was set for the premiere. For this, the optics in particular have been significantly revised.
The metallic blue giant is very conspicuous in front of the carelessly sprayed graffiti wall in a street in the Ruhr area. Between aging family carriages and littered small cars, the Toyota Mirai II seems almost a bit strange.
Neighbors turn and risk a second look as they walk by. Even the confident Hummer driver looks after the car as I drive around the corner and friends shoot a video for Instagram of my test car. After all, it’s not every day you see a hydrogen-powered battleship.
With a length of almost five meters, the Mirai is not a car for every parking space.
The hydrogen is stored in liquid form at 700 bar.
With a length of 4.97 meters, the metallic blue paint finish and the 20-inch alloy wheels, the new Mirai no longer has as many rough edges as its predecessor. It’s more reminiscent of a sporty sedan than a Prius.
“From the outside, the car is an absolute force,” explains a friend who doesn’t really believe in electric cars but has a preference for sporty cars. “The 20″ rims are absolutely amazing.” I have to agree with him, the Mirai looks great.
My neighbors watch almost every one of my desperate attempts to park from a safe distance and register with irritation that the car is one size too big for all parking boxes. This has the advantage that I can always find the Mirai again quickly in parking lots – and the disadvantage that I’m pretty much always glad to get out of the parking space without damage.
When it comes to driving, the Mirai knows how to impress. The 2.1-ton car literally floats over the streets, almost silently, as you are used to from electric cars. At full throttle, the Mirai accelerates from 0 to 100 in 9.2 seconds and has a top speed of 175 kilometers per hour. I rarely use sport mode. With its 1900 kilos, the Mirai is not a lightweight, but it is still significantly lighter than a Tesla Model S or a Mercedes EQS. After all, he doesn’t have a heavy battery on board.
At 5.6 kilograms, the new Mirai can absorb more hydrogen than its predecessor. It is stored as a liquid in carbon tanks at minus 254 degrees, which have to withstand a pressure of 700 bar. The manufacturer promises a range of up to 650 kilometers. Many battery-powered electric cars can only dream of this.
The Mirai consumes around 800 grams of hydrogen per 100 kilometers, at the petrol station of the gas producer Linde a kilo costs around 9.50 euros. This makes the Mirai a little cheaper to drive than diesel and petrol cars in the same class. However, how green it is depends on whether the hydrogen was produced with renewable energies. What convinces me: In contrast to many electric cars, the specified range hardly fluctuates even in cold temperatures. You can rely on the Mirai.
Inside, too, Mirai buyers don’t have to make any compromises. In terms of quality, Toyota’s hydrogen car can keep up with the competition’s large sedans. The mixture of aluminum and black, smooth surfaces makes a high-quality impression, but it is also prone to fingerprints.
Unfortunately, the multimedia system in the Mirai is somewhat fragmented.
Storage space is limited in the Mirai, despite its considerable length.
As a driver, I have enough space and can use the digital cockpit, a head-up display and the 12.3-inch display to display all information about the journey, my surroundings and the fuel cell. In addition, the steering wheel warms my hands, the driving assistants keep me in lane, and at traffic lights I can look through the panorama window.
The Mirai has its weaknesses when it comes to storage space alone: At 321 liters, the trunk is smaller for a car of this length.
The menu structure of the on-board computer also makes me despair. As a driver, it is almost impossible to regulate the temperature or switch from radio to smartphone playback as the operation via the display is not particularly intuitive and very small. My co-driver also clicks through the menu for several minutes, gets lost in the chaos and finds the right settings page more by accident. This is definitely better!
This also applies to the search for petrol stations. The fact that my search ended at an Aral gas station in Bochum is partly to blame for the Mirai. Because although he only fills up with hydrogen, the navigation system shows all available gas stations. The manufacturer has not adapted its system for a car that is currently only rarely registered. He recommends not using the manufacturer’s own navigation, but mirroring the official map of H2-Mobility on the navigation system via Android Auto.
Unfortunately, the search for a hydrogen tank can sometimes drag on.
Anyone who has found one of the hydrogen tanks will find their way around quickly: while I study the pictograms on the fuel pump, the interested truck drivers next door are watching my tank test. I’m about to connect the car when I notice that a fuel filler neck is defective. Fortunately, the column has another connection, my tank would not have gone through a further detour.
The refueling process itself is then surprisingly simple. After eight minutes the tank is full, I unplug the car and can drive on. A pleasant change from charging up with electricity, which can sometimes take up to eight hours with the columns in my walking environment.
With its comfort and reliability, the Mirai is also a typical Toyota. The fact that it is hardly bought is probably mainly due to the small number of gas stations. It is not for nothing that Toyota has now given up going it alone with hydrogen. In the coming years, the group wants to build more battery-powered electric cars.
Technical specifications
Five-seater, four-door luxury class sedan
- Length: 4.98 meters
- Width: 1.86 meters
- Height: 1.47 meters
- Wheelbase: 2.92 meters
- Trunk volume: 321 liters
- Curb weight: 1,900 kg
- PSM electric motor
- rear wheel drive
- input gear
- 134 kW/182 hp
- maximum torque 300 Nm
- Range: approx. 650 km
- H2 Tank: 142.2L/5.6kg
- Fuel cell output: 128 kW/174 hp
- Lithium Ion Battery: 4Ah 310.8V
- zero to 100 km/h in 9.2 seconds
- Vmax: 175 km/h
- Price: from 63,900 euros
More: A wild horse for the whole family – the Mustang Mach-E in the Handelsblatt auto test