Toyota Marketing Mirai With $8K Hydrogen Credit Despite Expiration
Despite the recent expiration of the $8,000 federal credit for hydrogen vehicles, Toyota is still marketing its Mirai as if it never happened.
Autoblog reports that Toyota is well-aware of the expiration, and is calling upon both houses of Congress to reinstate the credit. Were that to occur, the $57,500 MSRP on the Mirai would fall to $49,500. Other state and local credits would drop the price further, as well; California customers would pay just $44,500 for their FCVs, for example.
The problem, per the automaker’s energy and regulatory affairs director Robert Wimmer, is predicting where the tax process would go:
The two challenges we have now are that both houses of Congress are Republican and also that there has been talk for a while about comprehensive tax reform. If that moves forward, then extenders would probably be put on the back burner as comprehensive tax reform is discussed.
Even if the credit was reinstated, it may only last as long as year or two instead of the three years Toyota wants for the first-gen Mirai. The automaker has been lobbying Congress to act, though Wimmer could not say to what extent.
Seattle-based writer, blogger, and photographer for many a publication. Born in Louisville. Raised in Kansas. Where I lay my head is home.
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More bribes will be needed.
I wouldn't take that hideous thing for free - seriously. Besides, the H2 filling station closest to me is 368 miles away. These credits can only apply to a microscopically small segment of the buying public, who are a) interested in such a car, b) can afford it, c) live within a few miles of a filling station, and d) don't mind driving a car on a short leash. Even my Leaf could theoretically hopscotch quite a distance (albeit in slow motion).
Electricity - infrastructure and generation already in place > Car Hydrogen comes from natural gas or electrolysis, both processes use lots of energy. Then it has to be compressed into a cryogenic liquid. Then it has to be shipped. It's incredibly difficult to handle and store. Even if you made hydrogen from solar... How is solar electric > electrolysis > compression > fuel cell more efficient than solar electric > battery? It's like Elon Musk said... "And then they'll say certain technologies like fuel cell, and it's like oh God, fuel cell is so bullshit. The only reason they do fuel cells is... it's like a marketing thing. But the reality is that if you took a fuel cell vehicle, and you take the best case for a fuel cell vehicle in terms of mass and volume required to go a particular range, as well as the cost of the fuel cell system and... if you took the best case of that it doesn't equal the current state of the art in lithium ion batteries."