Giving a hybrid a SSB literally defeats the entire point of a SSB and provides no real incentive over a standard hybrid.

 

Toyota loses a pile of money on every Mirai made and the car is probably the most government subsidized vehicle in history. Tesla makes $10,000 per car sold and has no subsidies. Toyota lost huge betting on hydrogen.

So far this year Toyota has sold 700 Mirai's in the United States the car is a colossal dud.

 

Sure it does. Enables Toyota to say it launched SSB in an EV. It's too bad hybrids really aren't real EVs (anything with an IcE isn't) and they aren't subjecting the SSB to the same rigorous conditions as a pure BEV would experience.

If Toyota actually did this, would be pretty sad.

 

48V mild hybrid SSB in 2025, just to say "we did it."

 

I still don't understand the logic behind taking the GS and turning it into some low-volume science project like the Mirai. The Mirai in its first year, with $20K in incentives, sold <100 units more than the GS in its final year of production.

 

I know why they did it. Japan has almost no energy independence they saw (or still do?) hydrogen as a way to get there and at the same time Toyota could be seen as the leader in clean transportation. How they grossly miscalculated how much it will cost to build world wide infrastructure* and how behind FCEVs are in performance, convenience, packaging, safety and pretty much everything else vs. EVs escapes me.

*probably never did the calculations

Toyota takes great pride in being leaders in a particular field they can't accept being seen as following the industry in EVs. Not that buyers actually care it's a corporate culture thing.