Toyota’s Mirai Fuel Cell Electric Vehicle Outsells Hummer EV, Cybertruck, and Many Others

Nobody is really cheering for fuel-cell electric passenger vehicles (FCEVs). Sure, they make great sense for semi-tractors, particularly those who return to the same spot each day, such as in ports. But hydrogen isn't going anywhere in the passenger car market. Yet, the Toyota Mirai, for practical purposes, the only fuel cell electric vehicle anyone has ever heard of (barely), is outselling a lot of battery-electric passenger vehicles. Or out-delivering may be the better term since pretty much any EV built is immediately snatched up by an eager buyer.

Related Story: It's Been This Many Years Since Tesla Promised the Roadster, Cybertruck, and Semi

Toyota Mirai - 668 Units Delivered in Q1 2023
Why in the world is any automaker bothering with an EV that they only sell (lease, lend, offer for let) a couple hundred of per quarter? It’s hard to really explain except to say that many automotive companies build vehicles just to prove they can and to show regulators they mean business. In Q1, Toyota put 668 Mirais in driveways. All in California as far as we can tell. That makes it a top seller among the low-volume EVs on our list.

Tesla Cybertruck - 0 Units Delivered in Q1 2023
Tesla’s Cybertruck may well be the most talked about EV that doesn’t exist. Yes, Tesla shows one off once in a while, always in a new “updated” form. It’s really quite silly to talk about an update to a vehicle that has never been delivered, but there are websites making bank doing just that.

Tesla New Roadster - 0 Units Delivered in Q1 2023
The new Tesla Roadster is a really exciting vehicle - to dream about. Like the Cybertruck, it doesn’t exist yet, but when it does it exist, we suspect it will really be something.

Hummer EV - 2 Sold in Q1 2023
Yes, that is the correct headline. GM sold 2 Hummers in the three-month period of Q1 2023. Oh, you heard about the Hummer and saw images of one? Cool! Was it crab walking? Like it had with the Bolt, GM is now having battery issues with the Hummer. It will get resolved, and GM will go back to saving the planet one ginormous $100K EV at a time very shortly. But in Q2, only 2 left the factory.

Mazda MX-30 - 15 Units Sold in Q1 2023
Mazda’s MX-30 was a delight in our testing. We loved it. It can only travel 100 miles or so on a charge, but so what? That’s about double the miles most Americans travel in one day. Mazda seems unsure of whether the MX-30 is going to fly or not. There have been some months without any deliveries since its launch. In any case, this California-only BEV is averaging just 5 units sold per month. Roughly one per week.

Hyundai Ioniq 6 - 222 Units Delivered in Q1 2023
The Ioniq 6 is a new sedanish version of the Ioniq 5. It is getting rave reviews, just like its Kia counterpart is. With just 222 units delivered in the first quarter of Q1, it is off to a slow start. We will be watching for production to ramp up soon. Hyundai walks the walk when it comes to EVs.

We’ll hold off on the rest of the low-volume EV delivery facts and figures until the first-half numbers are posted. Will Fisker's new BEV outsell the Mirai? Will Rivian and Lucid share delivery volumes with investors and fans or keep them secret? That remains to be seen. For now, the obscure and hard-to-love Mirai remains a top-seller among the low-volume EVs “sold” in America today.

John Goreham is an experienced New England Motor Press Association member and expert vehicle tester. John completed an engineering program with a focus on electric vehicles, followed by two decades of work in high-tech, biopharma, and the automotive supply chain before becoming a news contributor. In addition to his ten years of work at Torque News, John has published thousands of articles and reviews at American news outlets. He is known for offering unfiltered opinions on vehicle topics. You can follow John on Twitter, and TikTok @ToknCars, and view his credentials at Linkedin

Image of Mirai FCEV courtesy of Toyota