Honda FCV (top), Toyota Mirai (bottom) (Honda/Toyota)
If Honda and Toyota have anything to say about it, hydrogen will be the automotive fuel of the future.
Both automakers have unveiled upcoming family cars that use fuel cells to generate electricity through a chemical reaction that combines hydrogen and oxygen to form water, which is the only emission produced by the process.
The Honda FCV and Toyota Mirai are essentially electric vehicles that replace battery packs with the fuel cell and a tank of compressed hydrogen gas, which can be refilled in about three minutes and provide up to 300 miles of range.
That’s a lot quicker than even the best electric cars today, like the Tesla Model S, which takes over an hour to get a 265 mile fill-up at one of its proprietary Supercharger stations. Of course there are plenty of those nationwide, plus thousands of other charging stations, while only a handful of public hydrogen refueling centers currently exist. Honda and Toyota plan to invest in building more to support their cars, but it will take years before there is a robust hydrogen distribution infrastructure for automotive use.
But along with their technology, the two cars also share very futuristic, aerodynamic designs that are straight out of a sci fi movie and unlike anything on the road today. So the real question is, based on their looks: