The hydrogen-powered Toyota Mirai sedan has covered 1,360 kilometers, or 845 miles, after maxing out its tanks. The record was set in the USA and entered into the Guinness Book as the longest range driven in a fuel cell car.
The test took two days to complete and included an observer from the Guinness Book of Records, who made sure everything was fair. He confirmed that the car was only refueled once – before the start – and it took only five minutes to fill the tanks.
The journey began from the Toyota Technical Center in California. Piloting the car was Wayne Gerdes, self-proclaimed ‘hypermiler’ or expert in energy-conservative driving. He was accompanied by Bob Winger.
The crew made over 472 miles (760 km) on the first day, finishing the run where they started. They made nearly 373 miles (600 km) on the next day. Mirai used up 5.65 kilograms (12.45 lbs) of hydrogen and produced zero emissions throughout the trip. Toyota calculates that a regular gas-powered car would have coughed out around 300 kilograms (660 lbs) of carbon dioxide over the same distance.
The Mirai set its previous record of just over 1,000 km (620 miles) in May. The second generation went on sale in late 2020 (watch the video for a review by CarWOW). It moved to a new architecture, gaining power, interior space, and extra hydrogen capacity. The official range grew 30% to 850 kilometers, or 528 miles.
