Driving A Hydrogen Car: Is This Really 'The Future?'

Every time I shoot a video featuring a battery-electric car, someone in the comments pops up to say “you know, the REAL future is hydrogen cars.” The thing is, to drive a hydrogen fuel cell car you need to live near hydrogen fueling stations … and the closest one to my home in Boston is 2,547 miles away. So when I was in San Francisco last week, I called up the fine folks at Toyota and asked them to put me behind the wheel of the Toyota Mirai (which is Japanese for "future," by the by). Before I knew, it I was hurtling down the highway in Toyota's FCV, leaving nothing behind me but water. It's not the freshest news on the block, but still I thought it was a great opportunity to share some details on how hydrogen cars work, why they’re cool ... and why I also think they’re probably not the future.

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[ABOUT MRMOBILE'S TOYOTA MIRAI TEST DRIVE]

MrMobile's Hydrogen Car Test Drive video was produced following four days behind the wheel of a Toyota Mirai Fuel Cell Vehicle on loan from Toyota. The car was driven in San Francisco, Petaluma and Marin County, California, and refilled twice at an H70-capable hydrogen refueling station.

[LINKS]

Toyota Mirai "hands-on" (first drive) by Myriam Joire:

Toyota Fuel Cell Vehicle info site:

Hydrogen Fuel Cell Vehicle Safety [FuelCellsWorks]:

Hydrogen Fuel Cell Vehicle Refueling Stations:

Close to 6,500 Hydrogen Fuel Cell Vehicles Have Been Sold Globally:

[MUSIC]

"You Know U Iz" by GG Riggs, available at Premium Beat:

“Skyrocketing” by Vincent Tone, available at Premium beat:

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[DISCLOSURE]

#hydrogencar #fuelcellvehicle #toyotamirai #fcv #electriccar #greenenergy #hydrogen

[Mireaze]

1:10 this car is so advanced it doesn't even need to spin its wheels to move

[jadoei]

80 dollars for filling up a car? That is pretty normal by dutch standards :P

[snazzy]

I think you’re dead on. Admirable technology and impressive safety results, but the lack of infrastructure is a massive issue. It’s pretty easy to develop a fleet of charging stations; however, developing hydrogen fill stations is very much not. I think at least here in the U.S., battery EV are the only chance at dethroning ICE.

[BloodMaster]

1:09 Wouldn't it be more efficient if wheels were actually spinning instead of dragging? 🤣 Great video!

[nekdeepbharganwar]

I think hydrogen fuel cell cars are right now at a stage where a few years ago Electric power cars (Tesla) were. They soon might become more conventional alternate fuels vehicle themselves provided they do keep following electric ones.
In any case, dependency on fossils fuel will get reduced.

[Space_Emperor]

Not ashamed to say I laughed at the Dihydrogen Monoxide joke....no regrets!

[johnkirby]

I own a Mirai. The car is impressive when it comes to fueling quickly and driving around town with incredible gas mileage. Average mpg around town is 77 and driving to LA at 75 mph the average is 62 mpg. The tank holds 5 kilograms of H2. A kilogram of H2 is like a gallon of gasoline. Average tank gets me almost 300 miles.

Named after the Greek words hydro for "water" and genes for "forming, " hydrogen makes up more than 90 percent of all of the atoms, which equals three quarters of the mass of the universe, according to the Los Alamos National Laboratory. H2 is 14 times lighter than air. Hydrogen is typically produced by heating natural gas with steam to form a mixture of hydrogen and carbon monoxide called syngas, which is then separated to produce hydrogen. Basically we can extract H2 from natural gas pretty easy, the USA has tons of natural gas.

One day Lion batteries will go away and graphene will be the next big thing. Graphene charges 5 times faster than Lion. When they get the charging time down to 15 minutes of less then we'll see a game changer. Thanks for sharing the Mirai experience.

[zetohojoin]

What an eco friendly car and less emissions too, this is the future.

[robertfox]

Awesome! Now get Mazda on the phone to loan you their EV prototype (electric car with a Wankel engine range extender).

[irlshrek]

"Hydrogen may be rocket fuel but the mirai isn't hitting escape velocity any time soon" lmao classic Micheal Fisher

[Fusiongearz]

This hydrogen cell might actually be the future instead of battery if the infrastructure develops. It wouldn't take hours to charge your battery and it would be easier to for the general public to get used to it. The only thing that would be good for battery cars is if you could swap out the batteries somewhere and get a full one.

[SDav]

9 seconds is more than sufficient to be honest. But what baffles me is that people thought hydrogen is being combusted. Lol. Like how would that even work in a car. So glad you explained this. It's basically an electric car with its own onboard electricity generator therefore requiring a smaller battery but can do more miles and can be filled in 5 minutes. The idea is good I think especially for commercial vehicle applications.

[genzod-ie]

Electric cars may win the battle but hydrogen cars will win the war. Hydrogen cars seem more efficient.

[darklinggolem]

Love it when the shutter speed matches with the wheels

[agustingarciahamilton]

Great video as always!! I think the main reason they are the future is that Lithium, like fossil fuels, is limited to what can be found. But you can get Hydrogen from a lot of different sources.

[pks]

1:09 The car is moving at the perfect speed that the rolling shutter captures the wheels as if they were not moving lmao.

[sidersproductions]

This was such a well put together video and unique look at the tech. Glad I'm subscribed.

[kylehazachode]

So whats the solution for when it's winter time and these cars are dripping freezing water all over the roads?

[TechTimeMass]

Awesome video, I saw one last year at the Boston car show and i was very interested in it

[LuckyDuckie]

Majority of people live in apartments, meaning no source of outlet to plug into.

Toyota just needs to partner up with the big oil companies to provide hydrogy stations across the country...kinda like big tobacco making/partnering up with e-cigarettes