Hydrogen car: disillusionment for Toyota which has only sold a handful of Mirai in 2024
Promoted by Toyota as an alternative solution to the 100% electric car for around ten years, hydrogen is struggling to attract motorists. The proof is that the Japanese giant has only sold 1702 fuel cell models (FCEV, or fuel cell electric vehicle) worldwide between January and November 2024, reports H2 Mobile. This represents a drop of 54% compared to the same period in 2023.
Nearly 30% of registrations concern the Paris Games
In addition, 500 hydrogen-powered Toyota Mirai were supplied by Toyota during the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Actual Mirai sales from January to November are therefore probably closer to 1,200 units worldwide. Since 2017, only the year 2020, marked by the health crisis, had seen such a low level, with 1,770 units sold by Toyota over the full year.
In 2023, Toyota managed to sell 4,023 hydrogen cars worldwide, but the manufacturer, which seems to be making little effort to sell its 100% electric vehicles, still registered more than 100,000 the same year. . out of the total 11.2 million vehicles that Toyota has sold. In short, hydrogen represents only a drop in the bucket in the Toyota group's sales. In France, in 2023only 306 hydrogen cars were sold, almost 1000 times less than 100% electric cars. The 2024 figures should be more flattering for hydrogen in France, due to the 500 Toyota Mirai registered for the Games.
If hydrogen persists at such a low level and is even declining considerably, it is in particular because refueling stations are still becoming scarce and the price of hydrogen has increased considerably in certain regions, particularly in the United States. . Furthermore, while 100% electric cars see their range increase from year to year, their charging time decrease and their price soften, the rare hydrogen models offered have changed little.
In addition to Toyota, the BMW group continues to believe in the future of hydrogen in automobiles, in partnership with the Japanese manufacturer. The Hyundai group also continues to invest in this technology, as does the Renault group, but this time focusing mainly on utility vehicles. Other players do not see a future for hydrogen in the automobile, such as the Volkswagen group or even Tesla. In 2022, Elon Musk called hydrogen a solution “the stupidest energy storage system I can imagine”. As a reminder, the energy efficiency of a fuel cell car is approximately three times worse than that of a 100% electric car, when the hydrogen is produced by electrolysis.
