Consumer Reports car brand reliability ratings

Not sure how that number was arrived at since I am not aware of any known mechanical issues?

 

Edmunds Rating of the Mirai:

Pros & Cons

• Long driving range bests the range of most battery electrics
• Comfortable and quiet to drive
• Limited production guarantees exclusivity
• Hydrogen stations are few and far between
• Available only in California and Hawaii
• Interior quality doesn't match the car's price
  
• 
  Our verdict
  7.1 / 10
  How does the Mirai drive?
  8.0
  How comfortable is the Mirai?
  8.5
  How’s the interior?
  7.5
  How’s the tech?
  7.5
  How’s the storage?
  5.0
  How economical is the Mirai?
  5.0
  Is the Mirai a good value?
  5.5
  Wildcard
  8.0
  
  
  

 

I’ve heard of it, and it doesn’t change my assessment. The Mirai is in its own market segment, isolated from both gas-powered and electric-powered cars. And that market segment is very small. So functionally, it doesn’t matter to the competition any more than who makes the best race car affects which car people buy for a daily driver.

 

The Mirai is an EV. It creates its own Electricity by the use of Hydrogen and Oxygen. So it’s not isolated from electric powered cars as it is a electric powered car that does not need to be plug in. FCEV market has 3 of the best known and biggest companies all building and marketing FCEV vehicles. There are current a little less than 9,000 FCEV vehicles on the road and that is with only sales in California. So it’s far from a small segment, it is limited by the manufacturers themselves to help allow the Hydrogen infrastructure to build out.

 

It's drive train is electric, but it does not have the fueling flexibility of an EV that can plug into an outlet. It needing refueling like an ICE car is presented as a plus. That fact separates the Mirai from other EVs in the market. Selling it as the owner doesn't have to change habits, just go to a different station, puts it closer to ICE cars in marketing.

Two big and well known companies have cut back on their FCEV development, and are focusing on just commercial trucks. The company that holds the most FCEV patents, is planning to just be a drive train supplier in the segment. One of three working on FCEV cars partnered with them for those patents, and because they wanted to reduce their own costs in FCEV research. Other partnerships have formed because of the high costs of FCEV development.

If there were more FCEVs on the road, hydrogen stations would less of a money pit, and businesses outside the government and makers of FCEVs might invest in them. The limited numbers of FCEV cars has nothing to do with letting the hydrogen network grow. It is because the cars cost more to make than the MSRP.

 

The limited number of available FCEV has everything to do with the build out of the Hydrogen infrastructure. The manufacturers know that it will take time. Cities need to review and approve plans for construction of these hydrogen stations. This can take a year or more. So in respect of the consumer, they are not making FCEV widely available to the public within California.

Mirai is an electric vehicle. What powers the car? An electric motor. How the electric power is obtained has nothing to do with liking it to an ICE vehicle.

 

Mirai remains most definitely NOT an electric vehicle. What powers the car? Dirty H2 transported and compressed with fossil fuels and manufactured from steam reformation of more fossil fuels.

According to orenji's mis-definition, diesel trains have been electric all these years. Nope, still diesel.

Here's some more real world experience of how terrible the Mirai is:
Bye-Bye to Our Long-Term Mirai

 

Everything in that article is inaccurate - must have Tesla stock.

Trains are not electric they are Hybrids.

 

Please tell us which of his many facts you dislike.

How about:

Maybe the point is that we already have electricity just about everywhere and more efficient recharging is becoming available all the time. We only have hydrogen in 41 stations in California and more than half of them were out of H2 at any given moment during the time I had the Mirai.​

 

1 Private industry is investing into Hydrogen stations - most recent Shell Oil and Total Oil

2. I constantly get full fills at the newer True Zero stations that are going to be the norm as they build out.

3 Hydrogen is now selling for $13KG not $17KG

4 I average 300 miles per tank it all depends on how one drives.

5 Hydrogen is the future.

 

You still have not disproved any of his presented data and facts.

 

My post contradicts the relevant items within that hack of an article.

 

Again, no. You have shown nothing to disprove what he said.

What industry do you work for?

 

Not the auto industry or the oil industry and what does that matter?

 

It's all smoke and mirrors. Where is your data?

 

Data - it’s all public record.

 

Sadly yes, no data, just smoke and mirrors shilling for H2.

 

Good read on what the future looks like.

Why hydrogen fuel cell cars will be Tesla's biggest threat - Business Insider

 

From that article: “Narrator: If and when fuel-cell vehicles scale, Tesla will have a tough challenge on their hands.”
Well, that’s the catch, isn’t it? “If and when fuel cell vehicles scale”? Even an article in favor of fuel cell technology seems rather skeptical that it will expand enough to be relevant.

The article points out 2 advantages of hydrogen cars over electric cars: they’re faster to fuel and they have more range. The same is true of gasoline, and we’ve got over a hundred thousand gas stations all over that don’t require anywhere near the complexity or expense of constructing an equivalent hydrogen station. Also, gasoline is considerably easier to transport than hydrogen. And according to the article, the least expensive hydrogen cars are at least $20k more expensive than the least expensive long range electric cars, which are themselves about $13k more expensive than the average gas cars.

So aside from personal preference, why use hydrogen?

If the answer is environmental, how does the process of industrial electrolysis compare with the electric grid in terms of emissions? If the answer is convenience, why not use a gas car?

The answers to these questions for electric cars are different. First, according to Consumer Reports they tend to be less expensive to own and operate than gas vehicles, which can make up their price difference if owned for 10+ years and come out as cheaper than comparable gas cars if owned for 15 years or more. The electric grid is constantly getting cleaner as more coal plants are being replaced with natural gas, wind, and solar. Charging does take longer for electric cars, and that is a weakness. However, there are hundreds of new EV chargers deployed across the US for every new hydrogen station being built, so that problem is being addressed much more rapidly on the electric front, and that’s without considering people with garages can charge at home. While electric cars are currently less reliable than gas cars (again according to CR), they are quieter, have quicker and smoother acceleration, and cheaper to run. And if we talk about potential, battery prices have been reducing by approximately 8% by year and at least 3 car companies, plus many existing manufacturers, plan to increase output drastically over the next several years. Not to mention the modern era of electric cars and hydrogen cars started around the same time. And in that time, there have been less than 10,000 hydrogen cars sold and more than 1.5 million electric cars sold in the US.

Now we live in a free country, and part of that is we have a greater variety in car choices than we ever have before. I drive a Prius because it’s the most reliable and cheapest car to run in my situation. Everyone has their own preferences and buys cars accordingly, and that’s a good thing. But in terms of “the future”, electric cars seem much more likely to dominate than hydrogen cars.

 

At some point it will make sense to combine hydrogen and carbon to produce... gasoline.

We've already got the infrastructure to distribute and use it, but for now it is not remotely economical to produce gasoline that way.