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Journalist Drinks Water from Toyota Mirai FCV's Exhaust

Even though Toyota only recently launched the Mirai fuel-cell vehicle, everybody has known cars that run on hydrogen emit water for decades.
Journalist Drinks Water from Toyota Mirai Exhaust 1 photo
Photo: screenshot from Youtube
Many may have wondered if that water is drinkable, but without production cars, there was no way to test it out.

We will forever remember the name Vadim Ovsiankin. He's the first guy we've ever seen drinking water made by a fuel cell car on camera. But what's his opinion of this byproduct and is it even safe to do what he did?

According to Vadim, the water smells like plastic. Of course it does sir, this is a Toyota, and everyone knows their cars are plasticky. But the taste is apparently okay.

It takes a while to fill that Coca-Cola glass with water, but this isn't even the rate at which the car produces H2O. All Mirai models have a "purge" button that releases the water made by the fuel cell, and they are clearly using it in the video.

We have no way of knowing how much water the Mirai makes on a full tank because FCVs are bordering on black science. However, we can tell you the high-pressure hydrogen fuel tank consist of a three-layer structure made of carbon fiber-reinforced plastic and other materials. They can withstand 70 Mpa (70 megapascals, or approximately 700 bar). There are two tanks with internal volumes of 60 and 62.4 liters, respectively. Toyota says these things are so robust that the only way to dent them is to use a 50-caliber bullet.

The new Toyota FC Stack system has a power output of 3.1 kW per liter of fuel and achieves a maximum output of 114 kW (155 DIN hp) and 355 Nm (247 lb-ft) of torque.

Editor's note: What is that eclectic mix of test cars? I see the Renault Espace and Kadjar, the Skoda Superb sedan and wagon, the SEAT Leon, and even the Mercedes GLC.

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About the author: Mihnea Radu
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Mihnea's favorite cars have already been built, the so-called modern classics from the '80s and '90s. He also loves local car culture from all over the world, so don't be surprised to see him getting excited about weird Japanese imports, low-rider VWs out of Germany, replicas from Russia or LS swaps down in Florida.
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