The Toyota Mirai 2021 has officially broken the record for the greatest distance traveled by a hydrogen fuel cell electric car without refueling, according to the Guinness Book of World Records.
During a roundtrip tour in Southern California, the Mirai accomplished an unprecedented 845 miles traveled on a single, five-minute full fill of hydrogen, setting a new world record. The Toyota Mirai’s distance record, which was recently recognized by Ward’s Automotive as a 10Best Engine & Propulsion Systems award, establishes a new distance milestone for zero-emission vehicles.
According to Bob Carter, executive vice president of Toyota Motor North America, “The Toyota Mirai was the first production fuel cell electric car available for retail sale in North America in 2016, and now the second generation Mirai is establishing distance records.” This innovative technology, which is only one of a growing number of zero-emission cars in our range, makes us pleased to be the industry leaders in this field.
The official record attempt was extensively supervised by Guinness World Records, who ensured that it followed all of the organization’s severe regulations and paperwork requirements. The Mirai achieved a remarkable 152 MPGe on its efficiency-focused August 23 and 24 2021 voyage, emitting just water as its only exhaust. The Mirai’s tank was verified by an adjudicator from the GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS organization, Michael Empric, at both the beginning and finish of the voyage, respectively.
The two-day journey began on Monday, August 23, 2021, at the Toyota Technical Center (TTC) in Gardena, California, which is home to Toyota’s fuel cell development department. Wayne Gerdes, a professional hypermiler, drove the vehicle while Bob Winger co-piloted it. On the Pacific Coast Highway, the couple proceeded south to San Ysidro and then north to Santa Barbara, passing via Santa Monica and Malibu beach on their route there. They returned to TTC that evening after logging 473 kilometers with only two driver swaps throughout the day on the road.
They pushed through 372 more miles of morning and afternoon rush hour traffic on the San Diego freeway between Los Angeles and Orange County on the following day, August 24, 2021, until the Mirai ran out of hydrogen and coasted into TTC, having traveled a total of 845 miles in total, as witnessed by Empric, on the day after that.
“As an assessor for the GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS organization for the last ten years, I’ve had the privilege of seeing remarkable attempts, including numerous distance-related achievements,” stated Empric. “In its voyage without the need for refueling, the Toyota Mirai demonstrates the capabilities of fuel cell electric technology. The combination of this technology and the creative brilliance of the Toyota team resulted in a moment of historical significance.”
It took 5.65 kg of hydrogen to fuel the Mirai, and it traveled through a total of 12 hydrogen stations along the journey without recharging by the time it returned. The Mirai was mostly driven during rush hour traffic in temperatures ranging from 65 to 83 degrees Fahrenheit, according to the manufacturer. Over the same distance, it produced 0 pounds of CO2, whereas a conventional internal combustion engine vehicle would have produced around 664 pounds of CO2 in the same time period.
Driving tactics such as hypermiling, which maximize the performance of the Mirai’s car under certain weather and driving circumstances, were used to produce the ground-breaking results.
