As the official partner of the Olympic Games, Toyota Motor provided 2205 official cars during the just past Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic/Paralympic Games, and this includes our protagonist today, Toyota's second-generation MIRAI FCEV. FCEV is the abbreviation of Fuel Cell Electric Vehicle, Chinese is our domestic is currently relatively rare "hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicle", in China's pure electric route-based market, what is the experience of driving a hydrogen fuel cell vehicle?
In 2014, Toyota Motor unveiled the first generation of MIRAI hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, which shined with its unique shape and true environmentally friendly power form that only emits water. In 2020, MIRAI ushered in the second generation of the redesigned model, and the new car is more calm and atmospheric in appearance than the original, and at the same time, it has also greatly improved its power.
First of all, a brief chat about hydrogen fuel cell technology, its power system is mainly composed of hydrogen storage tanks, low-capacity battery packs, and stacks, hydrogen storage tanks are equivalent to fuel tanks of fuel vehicles, and stacks are equivalent to engines. During operation, the high-pressure hydrogen in the hydrogen storage tank undergoes a chemical reaction through the stack, generating an electric current to drive the motor and make the vehicle forward. Excess electrical energy and energy recovered energy are stored in the battery pack and can also be used to temporarily provide driving force.
The principle of hydrogen reaction in a stack is very simple, which is a power generation process that directly converts the chemical energy of hydrogen and oxygen into electrical energy. Its discharge principle can be seen as a reverse reaction of electrolyzed water, hydrogen and oxygen supply the positive and negative electrodes respectively, hydrogen diffusion and electrolyte reaction to release electrons, through the load flow to the negative electrode combined with oxygen to form the final discharge "water".
The main technical difficulties lie in the power density of the stack, power generation efficiency, etc., and Toyota is currently the world's leading one, with a power density of 5.4kW/L.
Toyota's second-generation MIRAI is not listed in China, and if you compare the price in the United States and Japan, it is priced between 7.10-8.6 million yen in Japan, which is about 310,000-440,000 yuan. The U.S. version is priced at $49,500, or about 310,000 yuan. It is worth noting that whether in the United States or Japan, the second-generation MIRAI is the most positioned and expensive sedan under the Toyota brand (except toyota century), and even higher than the coupe SUPRA.
Back to the actual experience of the product.
Toyota's second-generation MIRAI is positioned as a medium-sized and large sedan, and compared to the radical design of a generation of models that transcend the times, the car in front of it is obviously more trendy. The new car adopts a semi-closed grille in the front part of the face, the bottom spindle-shaped air intake is very aura, and also introduces air for the stack; the headlights are split design, the main part is quite sharp, the light source is naturally full LED material; the tail looks very young and sporty, and the combination of the back window, the small tail wing and the transverse taillight is the favorite technique of many new forces at present.
The side can be more clearly seen in the sports style of the second-generation MIRAI, with a long front head + short tail, and a long front and rear overhang configuration, making this car look very dynamic. In particular, a set of chrome 20-inch wheels equipped on the real shooting car has lifted a lot of gas for the whole car, and it will definitely get more young people's favor when it is relatively slightly weird.
In terms of size, the second generation of MIRAI has a length, width and height of 4973/1885/1471mm, and a wheelbase of 2918mm. However, due to the intrusion of the front cabin into the cab, the second-generation MIRAI driving space under the standard wheelbase, especially the rear space, is very general.
As mentioned above, the dense multi-spoke style 20-inch chrome rim, very luxurious, very American, tire specifications of 245/45 R20, equipped with 20-inch rims on C-class cars, generally only seen in M5, E-class AMG and other performance cars.
The test drive was previously a VIP car for the Winter Olympics, and the tires were replaced by large snow tires.
In the interior part, the second generation of MIRAI has also made full progress compared to the first generation, and I personally believe that its overall design layout has taken a good compromise in terms of technology and practicality, and there is no blind pursuit of the buttonless design full of screens. As a post-80s, for some common functions of the vehicle such as air conditioning, driving mode, window control, etc., or the sense of solidity of the physical buttons.
Specifically, the entire center console of the new car seems to adopt a flying wing shape from the driver's position, an L-shaped trim strip will be instrument and large screen and barrier, air conditioning panel and other functional areas of the eye-catching division, the center console, door interior panel, central armrest and other positions are all leather wrapped, the texture of each button is quite excellent, fully meet my expectations for a pure imported Japanese high-end model.
The interface of the full LCD instrument is very sci-fi, and the information is clear enough and easy to read, but the resolution is not a small gap compared with the domestic independent brands, at least the distance of 480P to 2K level effect. Fortunately, this car is also equipped with a HUD head-up display system, and the dependence on the instrument is not particularly strong.
The big screen of the central control is full of the taste of Japanese electronic products in the last century, and the font and style are especially like the 3DS handheld in my home. From the performance of the instrument, it can be seen that the effect and function of the central control large screen are not the same as those of domestic products, and the speed of operation response is also OK, the logic is clear, and it is easy to use.
Although fun, the second-generation MIRAI is fully equipped with keyless entry, one-button start, seat heating/ventilation, and steering wheel heating.
The electronic gear lever is very lightweight in the hand, and the position of the gear lever is similar to some Japanese MPV, and it is placed obliquely on the center console, which not only saves the space layout of the central handrail area, but also improves the ease of use.
The position closest to your right hand is designed with a mobile phone wireless charging panel, the bottom is equipped with a non-slip mat, the use experience is very good, easy to get to the phone.
As mentioned earlier, the space of the second-generation MIRAI is more general, the front row is still decent, but the back row is slightly cramped compared to the common long-axle C-class car in China, and the author's height of 1.75 meters can only be said to be just right, and the knee margin is extremely small. The advantage is that the seat cushion is wide, the padding is soft and comfortable, the angle of the backrest is more inclined, and it is OK to sit for a long time.
In addition, the new car also takes care of the rear passengers comprehensively, and after opening the rear armrests, the trackpad can be activated to control the entertainment function, rear air conditioning and rear seat heating/ventilation.
In terms of power, the second-generation MIRAI has significant improvements in performance, endurance and assisted driving.
The new car is equipped with a rear-drive motor with a maximum power of 134 kW and a peak torque of 300 N·m, which is comparable to the average medium power 2.0T engine, but due to the output characteristics of the motor, the acceleration performance in the city is very brisk. After increasing to three high-pressure hydrogen storage tanks, the hydrogen capacity of the second generation MIRAI has been increased from 4.6kg to 5.6kg, an increase of about 20%, and with SiC semiconductors and more efficient stacks, its WLTC working range can reach 850km, surpassing the performance of many traditional fuel vehicles.
However, it should be noted that the standard endurance of the second generation OF MIRAI needs to rely on the required compressed hydrogen to achieve. According to the instructions marked on the body, the new car needs to be filled with compressed hydrogen gas of 70-87.5 MPa.
Taking 70MPa compressed hydrogen in Beijing as an example, its price per kilogram is 95 yuan, so that it costs 532 yuan to fill up a second-generation MIRAI, and if calculated according to the 850km endurance, the new car costs about 0.62 yuan per kilometer, which is not much cheaper than traditional gasoline vehicles, especially compared to electric vehicles that are only a few cents per kilometer.
However, the refueling time of hydrogen fuel cells is only 3-5 minutes, which is almost the same as the refueling process, which has a great advantage over the long charging wait of pure electric vehicles. Once the city's hydrogen refueling stations are slightly popularized, the clean emissions and rapid replenishment advantages of hydrogen fuel will be fully reflected.
In terms of driving experience, the second-generation MIRAI can be said to combine the advantages of oil trucks and trams.
First of all, due to the use of motor drive, the acceleration feeling is no different from ordinary pure electric vehicles, the response is very fast, the 134kW motor drive This C-class car is still very flexible and brisk in the city, and any time below 100km/h is full of confidence. Why? After all, the weight and power of the car are limited, and when the speed of 100km/h continues to accelerate upwards, it will be slightly weak, and the feeling of pushing back is not as strong as at low and medium speeds.
At the beginning and with strong power requirements (high pedal opening), the second generation OF MIRAI will provide power to the drive motor by the stack and the battery at the same time, and when it enters the cruising state, it will be powered by the stack, and the residual electricity and the energy recovery of the wheel will be charged back into the battery pack. The energy of the lithium-ion battery pack is not large, only 1.24kWh.
Compared with the general pure electric vehicle, the second generation of MIRAI does not have a very obvious drag feeling caused by energy recovery, and there will be a sliding action similar to that of a fuel vehicle after releasing the accelerator pedal (still accompanied by energy recovery), which will be more comfortable for passengers and not prone to motion sickness.
Like the Lexus LS, the second-generation MIRAI is also based on the Toyota GA-L rear-drive platform, which provides it with the equivalent of sufficient excellent driving texture and quiet performance, while the suspension structure of the front and rear multi-link linkages gives it a very good "bottom". In addition, the new car also achieves a weight ratio of 50:50, although it does not have too many sports genes in terms of power performance, but it is still very helpful for driving stability.
Editor's Summary: Hydrogen fuel cell vehicles have extremely obvious technical advantages for traditional fuel vehicles and pure electric vehicles that are being promoted in China. The fuel is compressed hydrogen, does not rely on petroleum resources, and the emissions are only water, completely pollution-free; the hydrogenation process is fast, there is no need to wait for a long time, the endurance is comparable to that of traditional fuel vehicles, and the use experience is excellent.
The problem is that the basic supporting facilities of domestic hydrogen fuel are relatively backward, and the hydrogen refueling stations in first-tier cities such as Beijing can be counted on one hand, not to mention other second-, third- and fourth-tier cities. In addition, due to the low popularity, the cost of hydrogen production, transportation and storage is higher, which is reflected in the consumer side is nearly 100 yuan per kilogram of compressed hydrogen (the price in Japan is 50-60 yuan), which greatly increases the cost of the car. Therefore, in a short period of time, it is still difficult for the average consumer to contact this form of power products.
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