At the Montreal Auto Show today, Toyota announced that it would be bringing the fuel cell powered Mirai to market in Canada, starting with fleet sales in Quebec.
The Mirai is Toyota's hydrogen fuel cell powered car. It uses a fuel cell to turn hydrogen into electricity and power a 151 hp electric motor. The Mirai looks like an even more futuristic Prius and can travel 502 km on a tank of hydrogen. The car can refill with hydrogen nearly as quickly as a gas car and can then drive for another 500 km. It's also less affected by cold weather than a plug-in EV.
Introduced in 2014, the Mirai has been available in Japan since that year. It went on sale in select US states at the end of 2015.
There are two main reasons why the Mirai is debuting in Quebec. The first is that it aligns with Quebec's efforts to increase zero-emission vehicle adoptions, including an EV sales mandate that comes into effect this year.
The second is the availability of affordable and clean electric power. Hydro Québec is one of the world's largest producers of clean power, and that clean energy will be used to produce the hydrogen to fuel the cars.
Toyota has already made a big electrified debut in Quebec before roll-out to the rest of Canada. The plug-in hybrid Prius Prime went on sale in Quebec seven months before sales expanded to the rest of the country.
The Mirai will go on sale later this year. Visitors attending the Montreal Auto Show will have the opportunity to test drive the car.
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