Mirai Discounts

could be worth a fortune in the museum of hair brained ideas some day

 

Is Toyota still getting CARB credits for hydrogen cars?
They apparently still don’t believe EVs are the way to go.

Toyota says it would rather buy credits than ‘waste’ money on EVs | Electrek

 

Toyota announces Class 8 truck fuel cell production plans for Kentucky plant | Hard Working Trucks
"Starting in 2023, a dedicated line at Toyota Motor Manufacturing Kentucky (TMMK) will begin assembling integrated dual fuel cell modules destined for use in hydrogen-powered, heavy-duty commercial trucks. Fuel cell modules bring Toyota’s electrification strategy further into focus as it will allow truck manufacturers to incorporate emissions-free fuel cell electric technology into existing platforms with the technical support of Toyota under the hood."
Program is going well
FuelCell Energy and Toyota Announce Completion of World's First "Tri-gen" Production System - Toyota USA Newsroom

• FuelCell Energy’s Tri-gen technology produces three products: renewable electricity, renewable hydrogen, and usable water
• Marks Toyota’s first port vehicle processing facility in the world to be powered by onsite-generated, 100 percent renewable electricity
• Models how fuel cell technology can play a role in helping reduce emissions from commercial operations, as a scalable system that can be implemented in a variety of settings/locations

Toyota has a history of doing foolish things:
Remember the Prius - an electric hybrid car- preposterous- a ridiculous idea. Absolutely no one would ever buy one of those things. The next thing you know some hair brain will be suggesting electric cars are a good idea.

Toyota also builds some of the nicest modular homes in the world, as well as their own Programable ladder control PC's, Fork Lifts, Industrial Vehicles, Robots and is even building a futuristic city in Japan- just who do they think they are?

Toyota even builds a Lunar Rover Lunar Cruiser, Toyota’s contribution to space exploration (toyota-europe.com) - Like a man is ever going to land on the moon -right?

Speaking of crazy ideas what about the Wright brothers - manned flights - what idiots - if man was intended to fly he would have been born with wings - correct?

Since we are talking about crazy ideas what about those fruit cakes who say we can make a vaccine to help with the Covid Pandemic -Pie in the Sky - I'm sure you will agree. The next thing you know they will tell us they have a vaccine for RSV which kills thousands of young and old people each year!

On a serious note - I would not write off innovation and human ingenuity so quickly - who knows what the next generation of technology will bring. Hydrogen Technology might be the next technological breakthrough for all any of us know. Right now maybe impractical for personal vehicles but that can change with the right discovery or innovation who knows.

 

Toyota should have started with commercial trucks. Smaller numbers of vehicles and set routes would have vastly reduced the cost of required infrastructure in installation and operation. It would have allowed better testing of the equipment before expanding to the larger scale personal cars would require. It would also have been cheaper to retrofit stations if fueling standards, like tank pressures, changed.

Green hydrogen isn't foolish. We do make a lot of fertilizer from fossil fuel, and that needs to be addressed. Combined with fuel cells, and it could be a better energy storage solution for grids where batteries won't work, or if we need the batteries for things like cars.

Hydrogen for cars is just isn't practical. Its energy density, and I mean real density of energy per volume, isn't that great. To get a usable amount into a car requires greatly compressing it or liquidifying it. Both of which takes a great deal of energy after paying for the equipment. The tanks to store it on a car are bulky and heavy. Commercial trucks have space for them, but a hydrogen car ends up as heavy as a BEV with about the same range and less space.

Battery energy density ain't that great, but they are much more flexible when it comes to packaging them, and have a lower cost to recharge.

Japan's hydrogen plan was centered around using nuclear power during low loads from the grid. Then nuclear fell out of favor. So now they are looking to import hydrogen. That negates the independence argument.

Maybe once green hydrogen production is reaching levels where local surplus occurs, it could work for cars. But then we also have the option of making efuels from it. Those don't have the pollution advantage of hydrogen, but there is plenty of infrastructure already in place to move it around, while it works in vehicles already on the road.

PS: If you start with natural gas, a hypothetical Camry hybrid using CNG can go about as far as a Mirai per unit of NG.

 

The foolish part was in their market size. It helps for the infrastructure, but not for making cars. Japan alone isn't large enough to support fuel cell production at the levels needed to reduce costs. It's why Toyota and Honda where pushing hydrogen in other markets; to have places to sell more cars to help with the unit price.

Hydrogen ICE cars could have helped, but I suspect there are emission issues with them that has kept off public roads until now.

 

Well good news! Just when you thought your Toyota Mirai wasn't worth spit. The good folks fighting war in Ukraine figured out how to make them into bombs. Fact is Stranger Than Fiction


Ukraine turns Tesla and Toyota eco-cars into DIY hydrogen bomb drone - Euromaidan Press

If anything, it shows how environmentalism and politics do have crossover.

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