First Toyota Mirai hydrogen fuel cell cars handed over to their UK users

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The Toyota Mirai hydrogen fuel cell car has now reached its first UK owners, with the first two cars handed over to ITM Power and Green Tomato Cars.

It’s two months since the first of a small wave of Toyota Mirai’s landed in the UK, and now Toyota has found time to get them ready for end-users, with the first two handed over to the earliest of early adopters in the UK.

Unsurprisingly, the first Mirai‘s aren’t heading for public consumption, but are going in to the hands of two companies with plenty of hydrogen and green credentials – ITM Power and Green Tomato cars.

ITM Power are specialists in electrolysers and hydrogen fuel cell products – they are responsible for the wind-powered hydrogen filling station in Yorkshire – and the Mirai will be a good way for them to show the practical application of their hydrogen delivery solutions.

The second company to get their hands on the Mira is Green Tomato Cars, which has been busy for almost a decade convincing Londoners that the right sort of taxi is a ‘green’ taxi, and the Mirai is the next step for their ambition to ensure London cab users can get around town without belching big plumes of NOx and particulates in to the air.

Paul Van der Burgh, Toyota GB MD, said:

Toyota has made Britain one of the first markets in Europe for Mirai, thanks to the commitment of government and business here to put in place the infrastructure and resources needed to make hydrogen power a viable, practical and effective proposition. Our first customers for Mirai are true pioneers who recognise the valuable rewards hydrogen can deliver.

Graham Cooley, ITM’s CEO, was equally chuffed, commenting that “It is an honour for ITM Power to be one of the first customers in the UK to receive a Toyota Mirai”, and Julia Thomas, Green Tomato Car’s MD, was pleased to get the Mirai as it’s “…a cost effective, environmentally forward thinking and sophisticated vehicle for the future.”

The UK joins Germany, Belgium and Denmark as Toyota’s initial attack market for the Mirai in Europe, and although numbers are going to be low for now – Toyota UK are expecting to deliver just 12 Mirais in the UK in 2015, including these two and four for Transport for London – it could be the catalyst for big growth in hydrogen-powered transport in the UK.