Electric cars are the hot ticket item in Lismore and the Northern Rivers when it comes to updating your mode of transport. You see so many more Teslas on the streets of Lismore than twelve months ago.

You may have well heard about hydrogen technology and how one day it will rival electric cars. It feels more like a fairytale that is ten or twenty years away.

At a recent Business Lismore After Hours event at Lismore Toyota, you could see and test drive the fairytale, proving that there will be another choice added to the list of clean energy cars to choose from in the future.

Dealer Principal at Lismore Toyota Tom Rocks said your choice would depend on your driving habits.

For shorter driving distances, electric cars could be your car of choice. However, if you want to travel longer distances, say over 400km, a hybrid or your reliable internal combustible engine will better suit some people, especially those worried about finding a charging station and taking the time for it to charge.

Enter the Toyota Mirai. The first hydrogen fuel cell-powered car in Lismore.

It boasts a range of 750 kilometres on a full tank of hydrogen and can be refuelled in five minutes. The only emissions produced by hydrogen cars is water vapour. A fuel cell uses the chemical energy of hydrogen and oxygen to produce electricity without harmful tailpipe emissions.

Don't go looking to purchase a hydrogen car just yet.

The big stumbling block for these cars to be imported into Australia en masse is the lack of refuelling options. According to the CSIRO, there are only 13 in Australia currently.

The Toyota Mirai that I test-drove had 300km left before it needed to be trucked to Brisbane for refuelling.

The NSW government has signed an MOU (Memorandum of Understanding) with the Victorian and Queensland governments to build an east coast hydrogen refuelling network and provided $10 million to support the project. There was no timeframe.

The technology will be developed to help the heavy haulage transport industry first, so trains and trucks, before the car industry is activated.

Back to the Mirai.

It has the feel of an electric car, with no noticeable mechanical noise. The technology is impressive, and the power when you put your foot on the accelerator gives you confidence when overtaking.

How hydrogen works

At the core of the Mirai, hydrogen from the fuel tank and air entering from the intake grille meet in the Fuel Cell Stack. There, a chemical reaction involving the oxygen in the air and hydrogen creates electricity—powering the Mirai.

(Under the hood of the Mirai)

While hydrogen is more expensive than gasoline, hydrogen is 2.5 times more efficient.

The Mirai can carry a load, drive uphill or face a strong headwind and not lose battery power unlike electric vehicles, where the driving range reduces noticeably.

Safety

Hydrogen has a wide range of flammable concentrations in air and lower ignition energy than gasoline or natural gas, which means it can ignite more easily.

Toyota says the Mirai chassis is designed around the fuel cell system to protect components in a collision and is equipped with safety sensors to detect potential Hydrogen leaks. If a collision is detected, the hydrogen tank valves are shut off. The Mirai’s Hydrogen high-pressure tanks have a three-layer structure consisting of:

• Surface layer – fibreglass-reinforced polymer
• Middle layer – carbon fibre-reinforced plastic
• Interior layer – plastic liner

If you are an early adopter, like having the latest iPhone of Samsung, get into Lismore Toyota and check out the Mirai. Ask the team for a test drive.