Toyota Mirai hydrogen fuel cell car

The Toyota Mirai was one of the first hydrogen cars to be mass-produced and has been on sale in the UK since 2016. Two Toyota Mirais have been in use at the National Collections Centre as staff site cars. The use of hydrogen-powered vehicles is linked to SMG’s commitment to sustainability and aim to decarbonise.

Hydrogen fuel cells have long been explored as a more environmentally friendly alternative to internal combustion-engined vehicles. They are promoted as a transport power source because they use the same refuelling format as petrol or diesel vehicles, rather than potentially lengthy recharging of electric vehicles, but they don’t use combustion so produce zero emissions at the tailpipe. How the hydrogen is produced is an important factor in how environmentally friendly hydrogen fuel cell vehicles are but electrolysis of water to produce hydrogen can be a way to store energy in areas with excellent renewable energy potential, for example Orkney.

At the moment, the main challenge to the take up of hydrogen vehicles is the lack of fuelling infrastructure which is something of a catch-22 situation. Customers are hesitant to buy a car that they don’t know whether they can fuel easily, but fuel providers don’t want to build fuelling infrastructure without being sure of customers.

The Toyota Mirai was one of the first hydrogen cars to be mass-produced and has been on sale in the UK since 2016. Two Toyota Mirais have been in use at the National Collections Centre as staff site cars. The use of hydrogen-powered vehicles is linked to SMG’s commitment to sustainability and aim to decarbonise.

Hydrogen fuel cells have long been explored as a more environmentally friendly alternative to internal combustion-engined vehicles. They are promoted as a transport power source because they use the same refuelling format as petrol or diesel vehicles, rather than potentially lengthy recharging of electric vehicles, but they don’t use combustion so produce zero emissions at the tailpipe. How the hydrogen is produced is an important factor in how environmentally friendly hydrogen fuel cell vehicles are but electrolysis of water to produce hydrogen can be a way to store energy in areas with excellent renewable energy potential, for example Orkney.

At the moment, the main challenge to the take up of hydrogen vehicles is the lack of fuelling infrastructure which is something of a catch-22 situation. Customers are hesitant to buy a car that they don’t know whether they can fuel easily, but fuel providers don’t want to build fuelling infrastructure without being sure of customers.