Toyota is pushing hydrogen as a viable alternative fuel harder than any other automaker in the industry, but it still has an enormous uphill battle: the refueling infrastructure doesn't exist, and you've got influential badasses like Elon Musk saying that it's "bullshit."
Toyota still has a lot of work to do convincing skeptics
On the cusp of the commercial US release of the Mirai — Toyota's first mass-market (sort of) hydrogen car — Toyota is agreeing that hydrogen is indeed "bullshit," but it's taking the term a little more literally. In a short film called Fueled by Bullsh*t, an engineer collects a bunch of cow manure from a farmer, turns it into hydrogen, then uses it to drive off in a Mirai. The short is part of a new series called Fueled by Everything, designed to sell hydrogen doubters on the technology's value. This first video is directed by Morgan Spurlock of Super Size Me and The Greatest Movie Ever Sold fame.
The Mirai goes to market just as next-gen plug-in electric cars are about to make a splash at significantly lower price points than the models available today: Tesla's Model 3 and Chevrolet's Bolt will offer over 200 miles of range for well under $40,000, and neither one will require hydrogen stations that don't exist today.
Correction: The article originally stated that the entire Fueled by Everything series is directed by Morgan Spurlock, but only Fueled by Bullsh*t is.
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