Toyota Mirai hydrogen fuel cell car travels 845 miles between refills – drives very slowly

A 2021 Toyota Mirai traveled 845 miles on a single tank of hydrogen, setting a Guinness World Record for the longest distance traveled by a fuel cell vehicle without refueling. However, this record comes with a few caveats.

The Mirai was driven primarily in rush-hour traffic, Toyota noted in a press release, a tactic that would allow going very slowly, which helps maximize the Mirai’s range. It was also driven primarily in loops around Southern California rather than on a point-to-point trip. The record attempt took place on August 23-24, 2021, covering 473 miles on day one and 372 miles on day two, according to Toyota.

The team used hypermitage techniques, like closing accessories and over-inflating the tires, to maximize range, which was far from a typical driving pattern, and not all useful in the real world.

According to the EPA, the Mirai travels 402 miles per tank in XLE form, or 357 miles in limited form, with the LE achieving better efficiency than the Honda Clarity. Ordinary drivers won’t see anything close to Toyota’s results, equivalent to more than double the EPA’s rated range, under normal conditions.

Still, it’s impressive as a unique achievement. Toyota said the Mirai hit 152 MPGe and only used 12.4 pounds of hydrogen to go the distance. With a gallon of gasoline weighing about 6.3 pounds, that’s less than the weight of two gallons of gasoline, or on a weight basis, the equivalent of over 420 mpg. As a large and luxurious sedan, the Mirai weighs 4,255 pounds, far less than an equivalent battery electric sedan.

Toyota also says the Mirai cleans the air as it rolls, creating “negative emissions.”

Much of hypermiling involves, at the very least, an extraordinarily long time to reach a destination. But it’s a good thinking exercise to see how much efficiency you potentially leave on the table as you adjust to normal speeds and driving patterns.

Over the years we’ve written on various hypermiles, like the driver of the Jaguar XJ-S who managed to squeeze 36 mpg, or the couple who averaged 67 mpgon an American road trip of 9,505 miles in their Jetta. TDI. If you are willing to go slow enough in a battery electric car, you can also go a lot more miles on a charge.

While taking extreme measures to achieve this result, at least one potential fuel cell product offers a range of 1,000 miles. It’s the Hyperion XP-1 supercar, which also claims a top speed of 221 mph.

A cascade of hypermiles is part of Toyota’s ongoing efforts to boost fuel cells. The company recently announced plans to manufacture fuel cell modules in the United States, as part of kits intended to replace diesel engines in Class 8 semi-trailers. Although this latest exercise doesn’t prove much. , as with many records, it’s all about the numbers.