You want a hydrogen car. You just don’t know it yet

A US$5.7 billion California lawsuit has much to teach us about the perils of annoying your most optimistic customers.

Drivers of the Toyota Mirai paid premium prices for a futuristic car whose fuel cells convert hydrogen into electricity and pure water. These early adopters now accuse Toyota of misleading them about the availability of a refuelling network. It’s easy to understand their ire: What good is a hydrogen car if you can’t buy hydrogen?

It’s just as easy to understand hydrogen’s appeal. You can make it from water using renewable electricity, it doesn’t contain carbon, and it stores energy far more densely than batteries – 3 kg contain around 100 kilowatt-hours, the same as the biggest electric car batteries.