Toyota brings fuel cell vehicles to Australia

Toyota says it is excited to secure three fuel cell vehicles for use exclusively in Australia over the next three years. The vehicles — known as the Mirai — will help Toyota engineers to learn more about the technology and will be joined by a portable refuelling station over the coming months. The refueller can be ground mounted or attached to a truck to make it mobile, meaning the vehicles can be refuelled anytime, anywhere.

Toyota Australia President Dave Buttner is thrilled to welcome the new technology back to the country.

"After having a taste of the technology last October, we are incredibly excited to have not one, but three of the fuel cell vehicles back in Australia.

"We are looking forward to educating a whole new audience on this future technology and generating more awareness of fuel cell vehicles," Buttner said.

He added that while the Mirai is currently on sale in California, Japan and various countries within Europe, it is not available for commercial sale in Australia due to a lack of infrastructure.

"We are extremely interested in fuel cell technology, but we need the relevant infrastructure in place before we can sell these vehicles in Australia.

"This will take time to develop, so it is imperative that we take a whole of industry approach so that we can move these plans along as quickly as possible.

"Fuel cell technology is expected to play a key role in the future and we do not want Australians to miss out on this," Buttner said.

One of the many benefits of fuel cell technology is that it is powered exclusively by hydrogen, which is one of the most promising alternative fuels for the future.

Fuel cell vehicles are also extremely eco-friendly as they emit only water.

Toyota Australia is currently scheduled to display the Mirai vehicles at a number of conferences and events throughout the country over the coming months. The portable refueller is expected to arrive in Australia towards the end of the year.