Not many hydrogen cars are actually on sale right now, and not many have historically been either. Toyota and BMW seem pretty set on making hydrogen a reality for passenger vehicles, but so far nothing concrete is actually available to purchase. More recently - the sales figures for the only Toyota hydrogen car, the Mirai have been falling rather rapidly, with most of the sales coming from Japan, thanks to rather large local subsidies.

The Mirai has only seen 1,778 sales worldwide in 2024 and 676 of them, came from Japan alone. This is largely thanks to a generous subsidy scheme from the Japanese government, which launched in June 2024 and offers up to ¥2.5m (£13,000) off the price of a new FCEV registered since April 2024. Compare this to the maximum subsidy for an electric vehicle, which is ¥850,000 (£4,500).

Once you factor in the subsidy for the Mirai in Japan, this brings the price down to ¥4.9m (£25,500), around ¥250,000 (£1,300) more than the only EV offered by Toyota, the bZ4X.

2024 was the worst year for hydrogen sales for Toyota since 2020, which due to the pandemic - ruined car sales pretty much worldwide. Toyota sold 1,778 Mirai vehicles in 2024, a stark drop of 55.8% when compared to 2023. This news also comes as Shell has decided to close all but one of its hydrogen fuelling stations in California.

Toyota in the UK is still listing the Mirai for sale, with a price tag of £64,695. The UK currently has three open hydrogen stations, with another three planned.