Toyota really doesn't want to build a full electric car, do they?
Like a lot of other people I didn’t know they are actually full electric and that they convert hydrogen to water to create the electricity, instead of having lithium-based batteries.
They have the advantage of very fast refueling (because the fuel is liquid) but the disadvantage of not-yet-developed infrastructure (just like battery EVs were a few years ago)
Three years ago, everyone in my home town would mock EV cars with comments like:
What do I do if I have a 100km trip to do and the fueling station is 150km away?
Do I start asking people around, “sir, please, can I borrow a car charger” like it’s a phone?
Some want them because they are quiet, some because you don’t pay CO2 taxes on them. Some even like EVs because you can charge them at home (which is another disadvantage of hydrogen cars).
Nevertheless, both battery and hydrogen EVs are improvements that we need in the future and we have to understand that there’s always a transition phase for new technologies.
The hydrogen fuel cell car requires 2-3 times more energy to drive the same distance, as the overall Well-to-Wheel efficiency is from 25-35%, electric cars can achieve an outstanding overall Well-to-Wheel efficiency of 70-90%.
As you said, hydrogen cars are basically electric cars with more hardware. The only group who seems to want this is to be used is old car OEMS and politicians which we can assume have been lobbied for years to be for hydrogen.
> They have the advantage of very fast refueling
It is not fast. H2 can't be pumped. It is held in a large tank and then super-pressurized in a smaller tank. When you connect your car the pressure is allowed to equalize between the tank and your car, transferring H2 in the process. Building up the extreme pressure takes time, so if a H2 station gets used heavily there is a 10-15 minute pause while the pressure rebuilds. It's not like getting gasoline at all.
An auto journalist I follow had a nightmare experience with the new Mirai. Trip from LA to Santa Cruz, somewhere you'd expect to have the best H2 experience possible. Only one station on the I5 corridor and it was out of H2 on the way up. They had enough range to go to San Jose (out of the way) and get H2 there. Several stations broken, finally found one that worked. Waited in line behind 2 cars. Each took 10 minutes to fuel and then the station needed 15 minutes to re-pressurize, so it was nearly an hour to get H2. He was promised the I5 station would have H2 delivered before they headed back to LA so they set off. Arrived needing fuel and it hadn't come yet. Had to stay in a hotel overnight and truck didn't come till noon the next day. 5-6 car line up waiting to fuel. Between the time to pumpH2 into the station from the truck, fuel each car, and re-pressurize in between it was 3 hours before he was able to leave.