The Metropolitan Police will be pumping out zero-emissions as they chase criminals around London – thanks to a fleet of Toyota Mirai Hydrogen cars.
The Met took delivery of 11 of the hydrogen fuel cell cars, which are use the fuel cell ‘stack’ technology rather than the more conventional battery-electric cars. Fuel stack converts pressurised hydrogen gas into electricity meaning that there is absolutely no carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxide or particle emissions in exhaust gas – the only by-product is water.
The Mirai is expected to perform to a range of 300 miles with an impressive 0-62mph in 9.6 seconds. Though hydrogen technology comes at an extreme cost, which probably means that there might not be too many Mirai’s going onto the UK market. Toyota’s project was funded in part by a European grant.
“The Met is committed, alongside the Mayor, to making the service as environmentally friendly as possible and a big part of that work is ensuring our fleet is green. Since late 2015 we have been actively looking at ways to hybridise and electrify our fleet as well as exploring other new technologies such as hydrogen,” said on driving.co.uk.
“This is enabling us to make great strides towards our ambition of procuring 550 vehicles as zero or ultra-low emission by 2020.”
Mark Roden, Director of Operations for Toyota GB added: “We are delighted that the Met Police has added Mirai vehicles to its fleet. The distinctive livery of the Met’s marked cars means even more public visibility for hydrogen powered cars in and around London. This is proof that organisations are seeing the future of hydrogen power for zero emission fleets.”