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Dr. Michio Kaku, a physicist, introduced the Toyota’s new hydrogen-fuel cell Mirai. He said he learned about it from a press release.
When Jeff Joseph, the Consumer Electronics Association’s senior vice president of communications and strategic relationships, told me automobiles were going to big at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show, I didn’t think too much of it. After all, the show has long been a home for many auto companies, albeit auto accessories like speakers, navigation systems and other in-car tech.
Then Toyota its first hydrogen-powered fuel-cell car, . And it mentioned some impressive features: it gets 300 miles on one fuel up, accelerates to 60 mph in 9 seconds and its exhaust is “so clean you can almost drink it.” Plus, it takes just 3 to 5 minutes to refuel instead of hours like an electric car.
The other cool demo during Toyota’s press conference was all the lights went out. And Toyota’s senior vice president Bob Carter plugged a hose from the car to a make-shift house for additional power. He said the Mirai’s battery could keep a small house powered for days — with no pollution. So if you’re snowed in, you can keep the garage door closed.
You’ll need to fuel up at a hydrogen station and the company is working on that. Toyota is a few dozen stations around the nation.
The automaker said it plans to sell 700 Mirai’s this year and “tens of thousands by 2020.” To speed up consumer adoption, Toyota announced it will open its 5,680 hydrogen patents — including patents for hydrogen refueling stations — royalty free to the industry. Expect the first car to go on sale this fall with prices around $50,000.
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