Toyota Mirai FCV a sellout in Japan

In the first month since its launch in Japan on December 15, 2014, around 1,500 orders have been received here for Toyota's Mirai fuel cell sedan.

At the time of the vehicle's launch, Toyota announced plans to sell approximately 400 units in Japan by the end of 2015. Due to the large volume of orders received, the company forecasts a significantly longer time to delivery than originally expected.

Roughly 60 percent of the orders are from government offices and corporate fleets, and 40 percent from individual consumers.

The Mirai's motor is powered by electricity generated through a chemical reaction between airborne oxygen and hydrogen within an onboard fuel cell. Toyota says the Mirai, with its combination of excellent environmental friendliness and fun-to-drive performance, has the potential to further accelerate energy diversification and help create a hydrogen society of the future.

The car combines excellent environmental performance – the only tailpipe emission is water – with a fun-to-drive character. Its market launch has the potential to further accelerate energy diversification and help build a future society in which hydrogen is a core energy source.

To help encourage the development of hydrogen-fuelled vehicles, Toyota recently made thousands of its global hydrogen fuel cell patents available to others, free of any royalties.

Read more: Mirai: That's what Toyota calls its FCV and future mobility