The Toyota Mirai, currently in its second generation, is only one of the couple of hydrogen fuel cell-powered vehicles actually on sale right now. To showcase its hydrogen FC technology and its potential to be used in “slightly more novel ways”, the carmaker’s UK arm teamed up with Tamiya and Bramble Energy to create this one-of-a-kind mini remote controlled (RC) Toyota Mirai… that’s also actually powered by hydrogen!
To make a mini Mirai RC car, the first step is – of course – to create a scale model of the actual Toyota Mirai car. With the help of RC car and scale model experts Tamiya, they’ve managed to create a 1/10th scale replica plastic shell of the actual car, painted in Scarlet Flare Red, a colour taken from the Mirai’s actual colour palette.
Then comes the innards, which is what this mini Mirai is all about. Taking the Tamiya TT-02 RC car as base, Toyota UK enlisted Bramble Energy, a company specialising in miniaturised hydrogen application, to convert the existing electric powertrain into a hydrogen-powered miniature model, consisting of a printed circuit board fuel cell system, a control system, and hydrogen storage.
The end result is a mini hydrogen-powered RC car, with 20 Watts (about 0.03 hp) of power driving all four wheels. Thanks to the switch from LiPo battery to hydrogen fuel cell, the new mini Mirai also doubled the driving time of the existing RC car – and the best part is that the hydrogen canisters are easily swappable, meaning there’s no need to wait for the car to charge in between play time!
According to Bramble Energy CEO and co-founder, Tom Mason, the biggest challenge in creating the mini Mirai was to fit all the required system components into the compact Tamiya TT02 chassis and the Mirai RC car shell. However, the end result is fully operational, which proves that they’ve succeeded.
Tamiya made a life-sized toy car that you can actually drive! Check it out here.
Speaking about potential uses of hydrogen technology, Toyota UK spokesperson David Rogers said that “cars are the tip of the iceberg for Toyota in terms of progress towards a hydrogen society”. adding that the company is also planning to carry out more “trials of fuel cell-powered buses, trains, boats and, who knows, maybe even homes”, with the help of collaborations across Europe.
And just for a bit of fun, Toyota UK even took the mini Mirai out for a spin at the Old New Inn mini model village in Bourton-on-the-Water, Gloucestershire -how apt. Check it out in the video above!
[Source: Toyota UK via Carscoops]
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