Now we’ve really seen everything. Carmakers are constantly pushing the envelope on what they can do to improve their cars. However, Japanese carmaker Toyota has taken this one step further with its second-gen Mirai, a concept car coming in 2021. But unlike most concept cars, Toyota is planning for its new Mirai to run on hydrogen sourced from...cow poop.

That’s right. Toyota is planning a car that can run for one entire year from the hydrogen made from cow poop. The complete redesign of the Mirai concept vehicle, which would run on hydrogen fuel cells, can be powered for a year from hydrogen from a single cow's manure, according to Toyota’s chief technology officer, Shigeki Terashi.

Mr Terashi wanted to make clear how revolutionary the car's technology could be, so he chose an unorthodox example of its abilities. The claim speaks to the potential of fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) to power the next generation of cars. Toyota is planning to increase the Mirai's already impressive fuel mileage, with the car's cruising range seeing an increase of approximately 30%, which means the Mirai could drive around 600km on a single full charge.

Toyota is currently hard at work building its first manure-powered fueling station in California because the Mirai's success depends on reliable fuel cell infrastructure. In fact, the carmaker has been interested in cow manure for several years. In 2017, the Japanese company announced with Shell that they were building a power plant in Long Beach, California that would capture methane gas from dairy cattle manure and convert it into water, electricity, and hydrogen. The companies went ahead with their project, called Tri-Gen, as a "hydrogen-truck refuelling station" in 2018.

“We have worked to make a car that customers will want to drive all the time, a car that has an emotional and attractive design and the kind of dynamic and responsive performance that can bring a smile to the driver’s face,” Yoshikazu Tanaka, chief engineer of the Mirai project, said. “We hope that with the new Mirai, we will be a leader in helping to realize a hydrogen energy society.”

The new Mirai, which the company says is mostly what consumers will see when the car goes on sale in 2021, is larger than its predecessor. The first generation of the Mirai went on sale in 2014, and Toyota has sold over 10,000 to date.

"Toyota continues to demonstrate that fuel cells are one of the most innovative and sustainable technologies for light and heavy-duty vehicle electrification. This initiative with Shell further strengthens our combined commitment to hydrogen as a viable transport fuel," said Craig Scott, Toyota’s director advanced technology vehicles.

At the moment, we will be more than excited to see what Toyota has in store for the Mirai, and how their cow manure powered hydrogen fuel cells will power us into the future. It definitely smells like the future to us!

Toyota’s New Concept Car Will Run On Cow Compost?!

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