Soon, world’s most advanced Fuel Cell Electric Vehicle (FCEV) - 'Mirai', which is Japense automaker Toyota's premium zero emission, rear-wheel drive FCEV, will be running on Indian roads, at first on a pilot basis.
Mirai, which sets the world record of traveling 1,360 Km with a full tank of 5.65 kg hydrogen, in August last year, is perhaps the greenest electric car to date.
In a first of its kind project in India aimed at spreading awareness about Hydrogen, FCEV technology and disseminating its benefits to support hydrogen-based society for the country, Union Minister of Road Transport & Highways Mr. Nitin Gadkari would be inaugurating a pilot project and also demonstrating Toyota Mirai FCEV on 16th March in Delhi.
This Pilot project for Mirai FCEV is being conducted by Toyota Kirloskar Motor Pvt. Ltd. along with International Center for Automotive Technology (ICAT) to study and evaluate Toyota Mirai on Indian roads and climatic conditions.
The name Mirai means “future” in Japanese.
The Toyota Mirai is expected to launch in India in January 2050, according to Cardekho.com. Mirai's expected prices will start from 6.88 Lakh. In November last year., Mirai was spotted testing in India wearing testing plates of Karnataka numbers.
How It Works
The Toyota Fuel Cell System used in Mirai produces electricity from a reaction between hydrogen and oxygen. Mirai users fill it up with hydrogen fuel, in the same way as buying petrol,/diesel/CNG at. The fuel (Hydrogen) is contained in high-pressure tanks and fed into a fuel cell stack, where the hydrogen and the oxygen found naturally in the air react with each other and generate electricity.
Moreover, in Mirai or any FCEV, energy is captured/stored in a battery every time the car brakes or slows down, which contributes to even better fuel efficiency.
Besides Toyota, Triton-EV, a subsidiary of Triton Solar, a leader in solar panel and battery engineering, had a claim to produce a 100% electric- powered, full-service 18-wheeler semi-truck, which is a hybrid of hydrogen fuels that generate electricity stored in on-board batteries, has a 220,000-pound towing capacity
California-based FirstElement Fuel Inc., which was once a startup, became the world's largest hydrogen retailer, after it raised a $105 Million Series D funding round, in November last year.
Other Fuel-Cell Vehicles Brands in India
Tata Motors has collaborated with Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL) for R&D projects and collectively study the potential of Fuel Cell technology for commercial vehicles. In June last year, Tata Motors won a tender of 15 hydrogen-based proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell buses from the Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL).
Last year in February, India's largest power company National Thermal Power Corporation Limited (NTPC) announced that it is planning to start a premium hydrogen fuel bus service on Delhi to Jaipur route.
To recall, in year 2020, Department of Science & Technology under government of India had released a report on hydrogen and fuel cells research across the country.
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