I Have An Opportunity To Get Toyota To Explain What Their Deal Is With Hydrogen. What Do You Want To Know?

I’m in Phoenix, Arizona at the moment, America’s only city that’s named for both a leading brand of tissue and a mythical bird. Go on, check and see! I’m here because Toyota invited me out to the opening of their new Toyota Arizona Proving Ground, a large facility where, based on the name, I assume Toyota leaves its dough to rest, ferment, increase in volume, and develop more rich flavor. Why an automotive company requires such an extensive facility is beyond me, but I suspect they’ll explain everything.

I think tomorrow I’ll be going to some ribbon-cutting ceremony – I hope to see a pair of giant novelty scissors, or I’m going to be very cross – and I think I’ll get to drive some things off-road and on a track, including, it’s been hinted at, a hydrogen-powered truck of some kind.

Which leads me to my Secret Agenda: I’d like to ask some Toyota engineers just why the hell they still make and “sell” the Mirai, their hydrogen fuel-cell car, and what they’re doing with hydrogen in general, and, you know, why. I was told I’d be able to do this, and I’m genuinely curious.

In fact, one of Toyota’s PR people happened to see our story this week about how baffled we are that the Mirai will continue to be sold, a car that makes up 0.0008% of Toyota’s American sales and, to their credit, suggested I talk about their hydrogen strategy with their engineers and other experts.

I think this is generous, since we’ve not really been kind to the Mirai in general, either, reporting on the many lawsuits owners have leveled at the company because Mirais have proven to be expensive albatrosses that can’t leave a few locations in California, because there is nowhere else to refuel them.  We’ve come right out and said the car is a “fascinating waste of money,” because, let’s be honest here, it is.

I mean, it’s a car that I genuinely cannot think of any reason to buy. Would you recommend a hydrogen-powered Mirai to anyone? Sure, it’s well-engineered and built with Toyota quality, but you can only refill it in a handful of stations in the Bay Area and Southern California, and the fuel is way more expensive than you’d think, with per-mile costs being higher than battery EVs or gasoline cars. Why would anyone want one of these?

So, hopefully, I’ll get some answers to that mystery. And drive some stuff, and they say there’s a “surprise” here, too. I’m hoping it’s a new Will Vi!

Really, I’m not sure what to expect. But if there’s anything you’d like to know about what Toyota is doing or what a proving ground does or anything like that, tell me in the comments, and I’ll do my best to pass it along to the Official Toyota Officials, officially.

So, what would you like to ask Uncle Toyota?