Once I advised Mike, a Toyota Mirai driver I ran into at a hydrogen gasoline pump in Oakland, California, that I used to be contemplating shopping for an off-beat, zero-emission automobile similar to his, the primary three phrases out of his mouth advised me every thing I wanted to know: “Don’t do it.”
It was deflating. For a second there, I assumed I’d stumbled upon the deal of the century: Used hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles are weirdly low-cost and, in some methods, extra handy than battery-powered EVs. They’re usually solely out there in my new house of California—minus some occasional mishaps—and so they enable house owners to skirt the state’s notoriously dear gasoline costs. Shopping for a hydrogen automobile as an alternative of a fuel automobile might slash my carbon footprint.
I used to be desperate to embrace a wierd, new expertise and gloat about how intelligent I used to be to anybody who’d hear. It’s the California approach, in spite of everything.
However after chatting with Mike and performing some digging of my very own, I’m fairly positive a Mirai isn’t for me. It sucks as a result of I discovered some actually wonderful, ignored advantages to proudly owning one. For instance: Toyota presents $15,000 of free gasoline to new house owners. I believe it says one thing when even that isn’t fairly sufficient to persuade me.
Used Toyota Mirais Are A Cut price
Hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles are a distinct segment inside a distinct segment, and I’d by no means even remotely thought-about one as a respectable choice till I moved to California and began searching for used vehicles.
Some backstory, in case you want it: no automaker has pushed for hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles greater than Toyota. The automaker as soon as believed that hydrogen vehicles can be the way forward for how we obtained round, as soon as we hit peak oil and fuel costs obtained too excessive. Clearly, that by no means occurred. As an alternative, the world appears poised to pivot to battery-electric vehicles, pushed by corporations like Tesla and the Chinese language automakers. Plus, only a few corporations stepped as much as construct the costly fueling stations ($1.5-$2 million, usually) wanted to energy this stuff, in order that they barely exist outdoors of California. This leaves drivers of the 2 generations of Toyota Mirai, Hyundai Nexo and Honda Readability with few choices outdoors the Golden State.
However hydrogen vehicles have their strengths, and I assumed maybe I might make the most of a few of them.
For the primary time in my life, I now dwell someplace (the San Francisco Bay Space) the place proudly owning a automobile is extra of a bonus than a burden. So I’m on the hunt for one thing comparatively fashionable (for security and reliability), environment friendly (for each my pockets and the planet), and low-cost. Underneath $10,000 can be perfect.
The issue is that these necessities are powerful to reconcile, notably given how the pandemic inflated used automobile costs. Each time I plug my parameters into Craigslist, I get a listing of high-mileage choices and virtually nothing from the previous decade. The newish vehicles and hybrids are sometimes too costly, and the budget-friendly ones are sometimes too outdated, ugly or unreliable.
With one unusual exception: the Toyota Mirai. Amid all of the 200,000-mile Priuses and Civics, I stored seeing shiny Mirais from 2017 or 2019 asking one thing like $7,500 or $10,000. That is for a automobile that prices one thing like $60,000 new.
So I got down to decide whether or not a Mirai might match into my life. Was everybody sleeping on this deal, or was I lacking one thing? Because it seems, it’s just a little of each.
What’s nice about hydrogen is that refueling is lightning quick in contrast with typical battery-electric vehicles, which might take a half-hour or extra to cost beneath one of the best circumstances. That a lot I knew. Grabbing the hydrogen essential to energy the Mirai’s electrical powertrain takes a couple of minutes, giving it, in idea, nearly the comfort of a gasoline automobile. And a fast Google search knowledgeable me of a hydrogen station a couple of mile from my residence. Issues had been wanting good.
I don’t truly drive all that a lot or have a each day commute, which makes me extra versatile than most. The last-generation Mirai’s 300-or-so miles of vary would imply I might take a bunch of journeys earlier than needing to replenish. Plus, I noticed a smattering of hydrogen stations throughout the Bay Space, the place I do most of my driving. Eight-thousand bucks for considered one of this stuff was turning into more and more interesting.
Then my plan began unraveling.
Costly Gas And Shaky Infrastructure Complicate Issues
Upon nearer inspection utilizing a extra dependable supply, the hydrogen station closest to my residence, connected to a Shell fuel station, was shut down indefinitely. Bummer. Upon even nearer inspection, a complete bunch of the stations in California had been out of service attributable to technical points or having run out of gasoline.
I additionally realized there have been zero areas within the northernmost chunk of the state, barely any within the east, and just one on the best way to Los Angeles. That might severely restrict how far I might journey. And, like I stated, I don’t commute, so my predominant use for a automobile can be weekend journeys.
So, hydrogen fueling is handy, however the reliability and prevalence of the infrastructure is a weak level. That is been a persistent problem, and it is comprehensible for a novel expertise nonetheless very a lot within the early-adopter part.
Then I realized that, attributable to a variety of things, hydrogen costs have skyrocketed currently. One kilogram on the (working) station closest to my residence now prices $36 once I drove over to test. That determine means nothing to you, clearly, so let me clarify.
A Mirai takes a complete of 5 kilograms of hydrogen. So a full tank would price round $180 and return 312 miles of EPA-estimated vary (taking the 2018 mannequin for example). That works out to 58 cents per mile, which is abysmal. Taking the common value of fuel in California ($4.64/gallon) and a hypothetical automobile with respectable gasoline financial system, for instance 25 mpg, you wind up with simply 18 cents per mile.
That makes the aforementioned $15,000 of free gasoline extra of a necessity than only a good profit. You will get that in case you purchase new or licensed pre-owned, which prices a bit greater than regular-old used. I discovered licensed Mirais in my space going for as little as $11,000, not factoring within the used EV tax credit score that lops off 30% of the acquisition value, as much as $4,000.
So in idea, you may get right into a Mirai for properly beneath $10,000, with 1000’s of miles of free hydrogen in addition. Regardless of all of the hangups I’ve about infrastructure, that’s an unimaginable deal.
However what about as soon as the cash runs out? Toyota’s gasoline playing cards for used Mirais are good for as much as three years. After that, you’re caught paying no matter hydrogen truly prices, which, as we’ve mentioned, generally is a lot. That’s exactly the state of affairs Mike was in once we talked.
He’d purchased an authorized Mirai, depleted his free gasoline, and was now dismayed at the price of hydrogen, which he stated had roughly tripled since he purchased his automobile. (Apart from the excessive working price and shaky infrastructure, he actually likes his automobile.)
When he tried to commerce it in, he advised me, a dealership supplied him $1,000.
That’s a variety of depreciation to abdomen, even contemplating all of the free hydrogen. And it makes good sense when you consider it: Who’s going to purchase some man’s used Mirai when there are ones on the market that aren’t very costly and include free gasoline? That realization was the nail within the coffin for me.
Once I requested Toyota about all of this, a spokesperson stated the automaker is continuous to work with companions to open up new fueling areas, and that it’s attempting to decrease the price of hydrogen alongside California lawmakers and station operators. The spokesperson identified that an extra 122 fueling stations are projected to open up in California by 2026, on prime of the present 54.
Hopefully the state of affairs improves sooner quite than later, as a result of extra viable choices that wean the U.S. off of fossil fuels are at all times a great factor. And it is a disgrace that present Mirai drivers are feeling the burn of excessive gasoline costs, on prime of different inconveniences.
However for now, I’ll take Mike’s recommendation and see what my different choices are.
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