The Toyota Mirai is still on the market, knocking on doors, trying to convince shoppers of better living through hydrogen. Shoppers in California, at least, because that’s the only state Toyota sells the Mirai in. The 2024 sedan is here with barely any material changes, but a carryover bundle of perks and a slightly higher price. For 2024, the fuel-cell electric vehicle gets standard Toyota Safety Sense (TSS) 3.0, an upgrade over Safety Sense 2.5+. TSS 3.0 uses a forward-facing camera with higher resolution and a wider field-of-view, and a radar unit with a longer and wider field of vision. These additions improve the capabilities of the existing features from TSS 2.5+ and adds a seventh feature called Proactive Driving Assist that helps avoid road hazards at speed. TSS 3.0 also adds OTA updates.
The other two additions to the 2024 Mirai are a new Elemental Silver color and a Beyond Zero badge that gets an “FCEV” notation.
Prices rise a bit over 2023. MSRPs after the $1,025 destination fee, and changes from 2023, are:
- XLE: $51,215 ($690)
- Limited: $68,180 ($1,155)
On top of a regular warranty benefits, buyers receive perks like complimentary rental cars for 21 days per year for the first three years, extended ToyotaCare for three years or 35,000 miles, roadside assistance for up to ten years, California’s prized High-Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) sticker, and $15,000 in free hydrogen fuel for either three or six years depending on whether the car is leased or purchased. That $15,000 could last a few years into ownership, but it won’t go nearly as far as it used to; the price of hydrogen at retail stations has skyrocketed in the past few years. Hydrogen Insight wrote that in September 2023, a company called True Zero, which runs the largest network of H2 stations, raised prices to $36 per kilogram. The XLE trim gets an EPA-estimated 402 miles on a full tank of the gaseous element, the luxury oriented Limited can go an estimated 357 miles. The Mirai takes 5.6 kilograms, meaning a refill of five kilograms costs $180.
In April 2021, that same kilogram cost $13.14, just three cents above its price in 2019. S&P Global Commodity Insights said this week that the average price for hydrogen across all retail sellers in Southern California was $33.48 per kilogram on January 4. Part of the problem is infrastructure hiccups causing shortages. In November, the same outlet wrote, “Data from the Hydrogen Fuel Cell Partnership shows that 23 of the state’s 53 filling stations were offline at the time this article was published, including 15 out of 29 in the sprawling Greater Los Angeles area.”
If you’re wondering why the Mirai still exists, it’s because Toyota believes in a multi-fuel mix for the global transportation industry, and that hydrogen will be a part of it. Automaker chairman Akio Toyoda said this week he expects EV market share to reach no more than 30%; something’s got to fill in the blanks if gas-powered engines really get kiboshed.
And hey, 2023 Mirai sales were 31% up over 2022, and the 2023 Mirai outsold the Toyota Supra last year, 2,737 units to 2,652. It also trounced the only other hydrogen-powered competitor, the Hyundai Nexo that found 241 buyers. Honda’s coming out with an FCEV CR-V to keep the Mirai company and bring a potential tipping point that much closer.
Source: www.autoblog.com