Toyota is the official mobility partner of the soon-to-be-started Paris Olympics and Paralympics, and the Japanese manufacturer takes this task seriously. In addition to many other means of transportation, for example, five hundred Mirai passenger cars were offered, but the hydrogen-powered, fuel-cell vehicle was not to everyone’s liking.
A group of one hundred and twenty scientists, engineers and academics has sent an open letter to the organizers of the five-ring games, in which they ask them to get rid of these Miraiks, because hydrogen propulsion does not meet the sustainability goals. They argue that while it is truly emission-free at the local level, 96 percent of the world’s total hydrogen production currently comes from fossil fuels such as methane.
Although according to the official position, the Miraiks serving at the Olympics will be powered by hydrogen produced from water and other environmentally friendly sources, according to the petition’s signatories, it is not a good idea to promote the model in such a framework. They say that future buyers will most likely use less clean fuel for their cars. They are urging Toyota to send purely electric models instead of these cars – anyway, they have already been offered for the Olympic purposes.
The organizers of the games do not hide the fact that they want to organize the greenest Olympics of all time. Toyota defended the Mirai in a statement, saying that they believe in the future of hydrogen propulsion and that cleaner driving should also be diverse, as reflected in their global strategy.
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