Toyota invests in hydrogen, Won’t give up the Toyota Mirai dream.

Toyota invests in hydrogen at a moment when the hydrogen offer is at an all-time low.

It’s more exclusive than all of Ferrari’s offers in the US, yet it’s a boring, sensible sedan. We’re talking about the Toyota Mirai. It’s nothing to look at, and the main difference lies under the hood. It’s an engineer’s dream, but a commuter’s nightmare.

The Toyota Mirai is powered by hydrogen, a seemingly hyper-efficient fuel that produces no real emissions other than water vapor. Toyota has sold 184 Mirais in the US. Meanwhile, Ferrari has sold 192 of their vehicles.

It’s safe to say that hydrogen isn’t the most popular fuel in the US. By the way, did you know the first commercial vehicle testbeds for this fuel came in the 1960s, from GM?

In any other case, it would make perfect sense to simply ditch the idea. However, this is Toyota we’re talking about, so, of course, they won’t. In fact, even in 2025, Toyota invests in hydrogen, doubling its efforts to promote its use.

Toyota invests in hydrogen to solve a critical problem

The main problem with the Toyota Mirai is that storing hydrogen is extremely challenging. It’s expensive and requires entirely new infrastructure. That’s why there are only 56 refueling stations in the country, most of them in California.

Now, Toyota has invested in FirstElement Fuel, the largest retail provider of hydrogen infrastructure. The goal is to leverage the 92 fueling positions across 38 locations.

However, it’s not stopping at this investment. Toyota has begun real-life testing of hydrogen mobility in India. The Asian country  is an excellent hotbed for testing, as the driving and refueling conditions are more challenging. However, the country is also interested in promoting hydrogen as the fuel of the future.

Limited Toyota Mirai options

Meanwhile, in the US, buyers don’t have much of a choice when it comes to Mirai variants. You can only choose one: the cheap version.

Of course, buying a Toyota Mirai seems like a very expensive gamble, especially when Toyota is facing accusations of “mafia-like” practices. You can read more about these here when we discussed the topic.

The reality is that owning a hydrogen-powered car in the US is becoming harder, not easier. The US now has fewer stations than it did five years ago.

With the EPA rolling back emissions standards, it’s highly unlikely that the American audience will fall head over heels for the Mirai. A clear sign of this change was Honda’s scaling back its plans for a hydrogen fuel cell plant in the US, while Toyota invests in hydrogen.

If you want to catch a glimpse of what using a Toyota Mirai is in real life, here’s a review from the guys over at Donut. It does highlight how challenging owning a Mirai could be.

The current political situation in the US would indicate that investing in hydrogen isn’t the smart way to go. After all, many automakers are taking full advantage of the fact that emissions regulations have rolled back.

However, Toyota doesn’t look at what is happening right now. Before partnering with FirstElement, it had also joined forces with Air Liquide to find ways of sourcing hydrogen more cheaply, which will be crucial in the future.  

That’s not the only factor at play. Despite the general deceleration of alternative fuel options in the US, there are people interested in owning a vehicle that contributes to the environment rather than damages it. However, for this to turn mainstream, we need one thing: to make it easy to use. 

So far, that’s not the case, but EVs were the same a couple of years ago.