Hydrogen Reality - Mirai vs Nexo – a world first

Mirai vs Nexo – a world first!

by Tom White

Occasionally we get the chance to do an exclusive test and sometimes we’ll even get to break some world-first news, but it’s especially rare to put both together, especially for such a big technology-focused comparison test.

Hydrogen

Reality

Mirai vs Nexo

It took months of planning to pit the only two mass-produced hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles in the world head-to-head. The premise of the test itself had to morph multiple times as we planned around the schedules of both manufacturers involved and the extremely limited infrastructure for hydrogen refuelling. The end result had us travelling from Australia’s only public refuelling station in Canberra back to Sydney* via the coast. We predicted this route represented a challenge for the technology and range of each vehicle, but also a familiar and realistic road-trip route for many residents of NSW and the ACT.

The test was particularly exciting as nobody knew for sure if either vehicle would cover the test route. With nowhere to refuel between the ACT and Sydney, and the Mirai having never actually been refuelled anywhere outside of Toyota’s station in Melbourne, there were many variables which could have put a premature end to our test. For example, we experienced teething issues with the Canberra refuelling station before we set off, which meant we were only able to fill each vehicle to about 2/3 capacity, significantly trimming our margin of error. I won’t spoil the whole story, you’ll have to watch and read it for yourself to see how things went. Special thanks go to Deputy Editor James Cleary for his guidance and codriving talents, plus Sam Rawlings for capturing video and still images on the fly. The stills were actually a team effort between Sam and I, and as always, Mr Rawlings is a delight to work with. An experience like this is important not just to showcase these vehicles, but it also grants us an opportunity to demonstrate new technology like hydrogen fuel cells in the real world to our new-car buyer audience. It also supports the booming value of EVGuide.

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