Yesterday in Newport Beach, California Toyota President and CEO Akio Toyoda announced officially that the company’s new commercial fuel cell vehicle will be called Mirai (which means future). This isn’t a big surprise, since on July 31, 2014 word had leaked out unofficially that Toyota would be going with this name.
But, wait, there’s more …
According to Toyota, “Of course, the car of the future won’t become a reality without the hydrogen stations to support it. That’s why Toyota North America chief executive officer (CEO) Jim Lentz announced a new commitment to drive the development of a hydrogen refueling infrastructure in five northeastern U.S. states.
“To support Mirai’s introduction to the region in 2016, Toyota is collaborating with Air Liquide to develop and supply a phased network of 12 state-of-the-art hydrogen stations targeted for New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island. The states and locations have been strategically selected in the greater New York and Boston areas to provide the backbone of a hydrogen highway for the Northeast corridor. Specific details of the collaboration will be revealed in the coming months.”
Toyota also has a worth- see video on their website where Akio Toyoda talks and shows the history of R&D that went into making the Mirai. See the press release and video here.