3 ms·

Why did you even buy this? Is there any advantage this has over a BEV or normal petrol car?

theshrike79 3y ago
Toyota was pretty much giving them away. Huge subsidies on prices, amazing load offers and I think you could get a card for 15k of free H2. It was a good offer in theory, but the H2 infrastructure never caught up.
- readthenotes1 3y ago
  It doesn't answer for the OP. He still owes $35k on an experiment.
linguae 3y ago
1. I wanted to drive a zero-emissions vehicle. In 2022 gasoline prices in California reached record-high prices, and I believed it was a good time to look at alternatives. 2. I live in an apartment complex that lacks EV chargers. My landlord has no plans to install them, so buying an EV meant being entirely dependent on public chargers. 3. The hydrogen situation looked more optimistic in 2022, with new stations being planned and with infrastructure improvements Coming Soon(TM). Of course, gasoline prices fell, but hydrogen prices went through the roof in 2023. When I bought my Mirai in November 2022, hydrogen cost $19.70/kg at True Zero stations; most stations in Silicon Valley are operated by True Zero. A month after I purchased my Mirai, prices rose to $23.75, then again the following month to $26.75. These price hikes were blamed on the spike in natural gas prices that occurred in early 2023. But while natural gas prices did fall, hydrogen prices never fell; in fact, they kept increasing until it reached $36 in summer 2023, which remains the price at True Zero stations. Thankfully True Zero’s stations in Silicon Valley have been relatively reliable. Every now and then there would be supply-related outages, but they have been resolved relatively quickly in Silicon Valley. However, the situation is different in Southern California, and I feel especially bad for Sacramento-area Mirai drivers, who are reliant on one Iwatani station that gets so much traffic that there is a waitlist app! People have waited hours in line for fuel there. The silver lining is that my Mirai came with a $15,000 fuel card that I use for purchasing fuel, so I don’t have to deal with the direct costs now. However, at $36/kg my card will likely run out by the end of the year, and once it does I’m on the hook for paying nearly $200 for a full tank, with a range of about 300 miles. By comparison, the Prius c that I traded in upon purchasing my Mirai cost $56 to fill up when gas was $7/gal, and it had a range of roughly 360 miles. I’m hoping that hydrogen production will increase this year as a result of the energy bill Biden signed last year, which has provisions for investing in hydrogen. The Mirai is a wonderful luxury car, but I admit that if Toyota announced a buyback option for the Mirai, then I’d hand over the keys immediately and revert to a hybrid like a Prius or a Crown.
- toast0 3y ago
  > once it does I’m on the hook for paying nearly $200 for a full tank, with a range of about 300 miles. That seems like terrible $/mile even if you were seeing your original price of roughly half. My cmax (phev, but i rarely charge it) does 500-700 miles on a 14 gallon gas tank depending on speed and style. Even at $7/gallon, that's way better $/mile.

Toyota was pretty much giving them away. Huge subsidies on prices, amazing load offers and I think you could get a card for 15k of free H2. It was a good offer in theory, but the H2 infrastructure never caught up.

readthenotes1 3y ago
It doesn't answer for the OP. He still owes $35k on an experiment.

linguae 3y ago

1. I wanted to drive a zero-emissions vehicle. In 2022 gasoline prices in California reached record-high prices, and I believed it was a good time to look at alternatives. 2. I live in an apartment complex that lacks EV chargers. My landlord has no plans to install them, so buying an EV meant being entirely dependent on public chargers. 3. The hydrogen situation looked more optimistic in 2022, with new stations being planned and with infrastructure improvements Coming Soon(TM). Of course, gasoline prices fell, but hydrogen prices went through the roof in 2023. When I bought my Mirai in November 2022, hydrogen cost $19.70/kg at True Zero stations; most stations in Silicon Valley are operated by True Zero. A month after I purchased my Mirai, prices rose to $23.75, then again the following month to $26.75. These price hikes were blamed on the spike in natural gas prices that occurred in early 2023. But while natural gas prices did fall, hydrogen prices never fell; in fact, they kept increasing until it reached $36 in summer 2023, which remains the price at True Zero stations. Thankfully True Zero’s stations in Silicon Valley have been relatively reliable. Every now and then there would be supply-related outages, but they have been resolved relatively quickly in Silicon Valley. However, the situation is different in Southern California, and I feel especially bad for Sacramento-area Mirai drivers, who are reliant on one Iwatani station that gets so much traffic that there is a waitlist app! People have waited hours in line for fuel there. The silver lining is that my Mirai came with a $15,000 fuel card that I use for purchasing fuel, so I don’t have to deal with the direct costs now. However, at $36/kg my card will likely run out by the end of the year, and once it does I’m on the hook for paying nearly $200 for a full tank, with a range of about 300 miles. By comparison, the Prius c that I traded in upon purchasing my Mirai cost $56 to fill up when gas was $7/gal, and it had a range of roughly 360 miles. I’m hoping that hydrogen production will increase this year as a result of the energy bill Biden signed last year, which has provisions for investing in hydrogen. The Mirai is a wonderful luxury car, but I admit that if Toyota announced a buyback option for the Mirai, then I’d hand over the keys immediately and revert to a hybrid like a Prius or a Crown.

toast0 3y ago
> once it does I’m on the hook for paying nearly $200 for a full tank, with a range of about 300 miles. That seems like terrible $/mile even if you were seeing your original price of roughly half. My cmax (phev, but i rarely charge it) does 500-700 miles on a 14 gallon gas tank depending on speed and style. Even at $7/gallon, that's way better $/mile.