murai fuel cell gets a video and plans for other states.

imagine, everyday, you have to decide if you need to travel to the 'fueling station'. instead of waking up with a fresh charge from your own garage.

 

As F8L pointed out, the lines of the front don't follow into the sides on the Murai. I like the sides, but this ends up looking like the front came from another car. Perhaps trying too hard to get with the universal X front Toyota has adopted.

I don't see the Nissan Leaf as a product of group think. From most angles it looks like most other hatchbacks. The nose is different, but that is because it doesn't have an ICE. An electric motor needs less space, and doesn't need a large grill for cooling. The headlights can be off putting, but a recent auto mag article that did some wind tunnel testing shows that those headlights direct airflow around the side mirrors, which tend to disrupt airflow along the sides.

 

you can put lipstick on a pig, but it's still a pig.

 

But it's a pig following function(in the case of the Leaf).

 

Let's see - monster long headlights just to deflect side view mirror wind drag - versus match stick sized cameras molded into the doors, or the sides of the front fenders . . .

hmmmm
decisions decisions.
.

 

There's funky, and then there's fugly.

The XL1 is definitely 'different', but it's also attractive.

 

I would give my right "you- know-what" to have Tesla run an ad showing Toyotas' hydrogen car incorporating the same type of disdain they are showing against plugins. The ad could say something like "Hydrogen - it's usually distilled from natural gas".
Then they show a monster gas well flare-off.
Then they show a Tesla recharging under a photovoltaic roof. The narrator / caption could read/say Tesla - because no one goes to war over solar.
Ouch!

.

 

What? It looks ok to me.

 

Tesla doesn't run any commercials, for any reason.
They spend their budget on expanding their supercharger infrastructure.

I hope Toyota continues doing the same, although I am looking forward to see what the pumped hydrogen will cost in 3-4 years.

 

FUGLY inside and out.
i'm embarrassed to own a toyota if that goes on the road looking like that.
even a family truckster looks better.



that's a photo of toyotas design engineer

 

What?

I like the positioning of the Prius speedometer. You take your eyes off the road for a shorter time to see it.
When I rent a car and have to look behind the steering wheel it feels unsafe after being used to the Prius.

Mike

 

Here's a Slash Gear first drive review of the Mirai.

They say they got 52 mpgge (miles per gallon gasoline equivalent, aka one kg H2) driving on a mix of city and highway conditions. They don't say how many miles they drove, how long they left the car turned on while they sat around taking photos and preparing for the drive, or what climate controls they had on.

It would be typical for car reviewers to push the limits a bit to test acceleration etc. so 52 is probably on the low side but it may be evidence that Toyota hasn't performed an efficiency miracle.

This review is consistent with a hypothetical EPA estimate of around 55-65. If it really got an EPA estimate of 52 mpgge that would be the carbon emissions equivalent of a 35 mpg gasoline car when using NG-derived hydrogen.

 

need to keep the fuel cell cool? what will this be like in the south and mountains?

 

how much water will be dribbling onto the highway when everyone drives one?

 

fuel cell and batteries reduce the trunk space? oh great!

 

can we get these translated into 'merican?

 

I don't like it. It makes no sense to me. People laugh and moan about BEVs being expensive and that the luxurious £50k Tesla S is outside the reach of normal people, but applaud a jumped up Prius costing the same just because it runs on hydrogen?

You get low on juice in a Tesla and you plug in anywhere you want, sure it might take a while in some places but everywhere has a plug socket. The Mirai is even more restrictive yet this isn't an issue? Nah, it's just a case of the Emperors new clothes. The same clever marketing that got fools into thinking SUVs were cool in the early 80's is at work with this nonsense.

Oh and just wait til the scrap metal 'community' get word of how much platinum is in them mofo's. You only have to steal a couple a year and make a nice profit. It'll make copper cable theft obsolete. Just nick a few Mirai.