Toyota’s hydrogen car is now one of the cheapest new cars in the US and you get $15,000 worth of fuel for free

The Toyota Mirai has become one of the cheapest cars on sale in the United States, currently available for less than $20,000 in California.

The Mirai is one of the few hydrogen fuel-cell cars in production and has been a part of the Toyota range since 2014.

The current asking price in California is just $17,700, which is a massive 70 percent discount on the hydrogen sedan’s full MSRP (Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price).

So, why wouldn’t you snap one up? Well, there are a few potential reasons.

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Hydrogen Is Losing Out To Electric Vehicles

The massive 70 percent discount for the Mirai is partly due to the fact that hydrogen power is losing out compared to EVs in the United States.

EV sales and charging stations are on the increase, but California has only 44 hydrogen filling stations.

There is currently no way to safely have a hydrogen recharging station at owners’ houses, which severely limits the Mirai’s usability, even with its 402-mile range.

This figure is higher than that of many EVs, but owners have to drive a considerable distance on occasion to refill their tanks.

Only A Handful Of Hydrogen Cars Are In Production

There are currently just a small number of hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles on sale in North America.

Alongside the Mirai, Hyundai offers the Nexo, a hydrogen-powered SUV with a range of up to 380 miles and a retail price of $60,135 at the time of writing.

However, in six years of production, Hyundai has sold just 1,600 Nexos, highlighting the difficulty they and Toyota are facing in marketing hydrogen vehicles.

As with the Mirai, the lack of significant hydrogen refilling stations is one of the issues that the Korean manufacturer currently faces.

Toyota Mirai Sales Are Getting Lower Each Year

Sales of the Toyota Mirai are also suffering. In 2023, the Japanese manufacturer sold 2,737 units of the sedan in North America. But come 2024, those figures had dropped massively to just 499 across the entire year.

Various reports in 2024 highlighted the poor sales of hydrogen cars in the United States.

In fact, in the second quarter of the year, sales dropped by a staggering 91 percent, with just 99 hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles sold throughout the quarter.

This is the most significant decline in hydrogen sales since 2015, when the concept was still very much new to the automotive market.