Toyota’s production hydrogen car will be the Toyota Mirai

Toyota’s recently revealed production hydrogen fuel cell car will be named the Toyota Mirai when it goes on sale in 2015, it’s reported.

Toyota are planning to join what looks set to be a bit of a rush by car makers to introduce mainstream hydrogen fuel cell cars with a production version of the Toyota FCV Concept.

That production FCV was from Toyota revealed in June, but it didn’t have a name. But it seems, at least according to a report from Bloomberg, that it will be the Toyota Mirai.

It seems a perfectly reasonable name for Toyota’s fuel cell car that hopes to pave the path to a world where large numbers of electric cars are powered by hydrogen fuel cells, as it means ‘Future’ in Japanese.

With the ability to offer all the advantages of battery EVs – quiet running, lower running costs (subject to taxation), cleaner running and lower maintenance costs – together with the advantages of ICE cars – notably much more usable range and quick refuelling – the FCEV could be the future for cars.

With a number of FCEVs arriving in the next year – including the Toyota Mirai in the UK and Europe in summer 2015 – the hope is it will set in motion a real impetus to develop a refuelling infrastructure for hydrogen.

If that happens, the pitching of the crop of FCEVs hitting the market in the coming years at prices not dissimilar to hybrids and BEVs could see hydrogen fuel cell cars dominate the alternative fuel car market in a relatively short space of time.