Toyota Mirai FCV pre-orders, or the "customer order request portal" as the Japanese automaker calls it, went live earlier this week. Select customers will get their vehicles by October.
"The Mirai hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicle combines hydrogen and oxygen to make electricity onboard, while emitting nothing but water vapor," Toyota said in a statement.
The FCV's range is reportedly the best among zero emission vehicles with one full tank able to go up to 312 miles. But at 67 MPGe, it's still not as efficient as its battery-powered rivals.
Toyota is inviting customers in California to "claim their place in automotive history" by heading to a dedicated website but only a limited number will be initially available.
"After placing a request, potential Mirai drivers will be contacted directly by a Toyota representative to discuss the next steps."
Deliveries for the Toyota Mirai FCV begin in October. Eligible customers can pick up theirs in any of the eight authorized dealers. This includes Toyota of Orange, Longo Toyota, Tustin Toyota and Toyota of Santa Monica in Southern Calif. In Northern Calif, the dealers are San Francisco Toyota, Toyota Sunnyvale, Stevens Creek Toyota and Roseville Toyota.
MSRP is at $57,500 plus a destination fee of $835.
Customers can avail of the Mirai in one of three options via the Mirai Trailblazer support program. Zero percent for 60 months plus $7,500 cash for Trailblazer APR Support, $7,500 with Trailblazer Purchase Support and $499 per month plus $3,649 upon signing with Trailblazer Lease.
Japanese for "future," Toyota is betting big on the Mirai FCV and hydrogen as the alternative fuel vehicle of the future. The Japanese automaker's national alternative fuel vehicle manager Craig Scott enumerated the technologies advantages over battery-electric vehicles in an interview with Forbes.
If you want more range in a fuel cell vehicle, you simply fill it up with hydrogen as you would a gasoline vehicle. But with batteries, you have to wait for it to recharge before setting off again. Adding more batteries isn't a simple solution.
"You approach a limit for every additional battery you're putting in the car, you're getting incremental distance. So, from that point of view, you have a physics problem."
Solving the problem would "require a new material that doesn't yet exist," Scott added.
"How long that takes is anyone's guess."
When it arrives in October, the Toyota Mirai FCV will directly compete with the Honda FCX Clarity and Hyundai Tucson FCV, as well as other zero emission vehicles.
