The first time I heard about fuel cell vehicles (FCVs), it was about 20 years ago, and I thought, “They’re never gonna do that. They can’t do that.” But then here we are.

I’ve always been looking for a more eco-friendly car. I was driving a Prius before they were popular and have owned two. My husband read an article about the Toyota Mirai online, and when we saw it at the dealership, I thought, “This is a gorgeous car.” The combination of the technology and the design hooked me right away.

Why the Mirai Made Sense

It just made sense: The battery electric vehicles (BEV) didn’t have the range that hydrogen cars do. I didn’t want to plug in the car every night, and we didn’t want to redo our electrical system at home to accommodate an EV. Hydrogen fuel just seemed like the future of cars. The battery-powered plug-ins seemed like a stepping-stone. It feels like an introductory car until people wrap their heads around hydrogen and the infrastructure is built.

For now at least, the car’s not for everyone. Like any other car, you have to make sure that it’s right for your lifestyle and where you live. To even buy the Mirai when it first became available, you needed to fill out an application and go through an interview process that made sure that you lived near hydrogen fueling stations.

After we passed the interview and spent six months on the waiting list, we picked up our Mirai at the end of May of this year. (Now that more hydrogen stations are coming up, Toyota turns the cars around really fast at our local dealership). The ride is so much smoother than my other cars’, it handles better, and it’s a solid, sturdy car. A lot of car manufacturers seem to hollow out the doors to make the car lighter and more fuel-efficient, but the Mirai doors are solid, really heavy.

Why the Mirai Made Sense

We live two miles from a hydrogen station. There’s another one on my way to work, and another one probably 12 miles away. We’re in a hub of four hydrogen stations, so it’s not a big stretch for us to get fuel. But we’re planners anyway: Alternative-energy car owners tend to be future-thinking, so I normally don’t run my car bone dry and then think, “Oh my gosh, I need to get fuel.” We know our range; we look at the gauge and think, “Okay, there’s a station over here, there’s a station over there, I can go to this station, and if that station happens to be offline, I can still go to the next station.”

How the Mirai’s Range and Refueling Stack Up

We can drive 300 miles on a full tank of hydrogen, but it varies like every other car depending on your driving habits. The Mirai is pretty genius: It takes your last eight fill-ups—your last eight full tanks—figures out your driving habits, and predicts how many miles your next tank will go. I usually drive about 50 miles a day, and I’m filling up about once a week, when there’s about 70 miles left. We have a card from Toyota that pays for our fuel for three years (or $15,000 of fuel, whichever comes first). We use it at the pump like a regular credit card, except the bill goes to Toyota instead of to us.

2017 EPA-estimated 67 city/67 highway/67 combined MPGe for Mirai and 312-mile driving range. Actual mileage will vary. Range measurement pursuant to SAE J2601 standards (ambient temperature: 20°C; hydrogen tank pressure when fueled: 70 MPa). Fueling time varies with hydrogen fueling pressure and ambient temperature.

Complimentary fuel for three years, or $15,000 maximum, whichever comes first. The three-year period starts on the earlier of (a) the date of activation and registration of the “temporary” card, or (b) 90 days from the Mirai sale or lease commencement date. Fuel card is nontransferable. The Mirai must be fueled at continental U.S. hydrogen stations conforming to specific standards and/or laws. Refer to the Mirai Hydrogen Stations Locator App in Entune™, or call Toyota customer service at 800-331-4331 for information on hydrogen fueling stations available to Mirai.

Barring the nozzle of the hydrogen pump chilling and sticking slightly onto the car adapter (Mirai drivers exchange tips and tricks for these types of nuances on Toyota’s social-media support system—simply letting it thaw is one way to release it), refueling is an in-and-out job. With a BEV, if you get to a connector station and there are three other cars waiting to charge, you’ll be waiting for a long time. If you have an FCV, you can refill in and be back on the road on ten minutes. You don’t have to plan in two extra hours on the drive because you have to wait for your car to recharge. That’s a big deal.

For longer road trips, we can go to a Toyota dealer and rent any kind of non-hydrogen car for free. Mirai drivers get seven days’ worth of free rental service each year, so we really don’t have to give up a lot to own this car.

The dealership we bought ours from is selling a lot in this area, but we’re the only family with an FCV in our immediate neighborhood. I’ve had neighbors follow me—ones I haven’t met—and they stop me as I pull into my driveway to talk about my car.

They usually bring up the Hindenburg. If the Hindenburg had their hydrogen in triple-layer tanks, reinforced with carbon fiber, it wouldn’t have blown up! I’m not concerned about the safety at all. They’ve shot them with guns, and they haven’t exploded.

Then they ask where we get the hydrogen. We can extract hydrogen from any organic material. They’re starting to extract it from sewage and garbage. How cool is that—that we could take something that we’d just throw away—garbage—and repurpose it to an energy form?

The next generation is really interested in this. One of the kids down the street—he’s in seventh grade—came over and said, “I’ve been reading about hydrogen cars, and I wanted to come see one.” Our 27-year-old son, who drives a Ford Mustang GT, likes the Mirai. His generation especially has to start thinking of other sources of energy for their cars.

What the Future Holds

I really think hydrogen’s the way to go. It’s more eco-friendly on both ends—from the production to the usage end, and the state of California, where we live, is committed to installing hydrogen fueling stations. The goal is to have 100 of them by year 2020, so we’ll be seeing a lot more of them. And it solves one of the problems of the plug-in: In Southern California and most urban areas, people don’t park in garages. They park on the street, so they don’t have access to electricity to plug their car in every night. Once people realize that they can have an eco-friendly car without having to make costly upgrades to their electrical system, and without needing a garage, then they may be more likely to go with hydrogen.

The seven complimentary days per year will expire after each year, and any unused days will not carry over.

What happens if it doesn’t catch on? If the infrastructure doesn’t show up? I initially considered this.

But I have an extreme amount of faith in Toyota. I’ve had Camrys, I’ve had Priuses. They’ve been working on this car for 20 years. I realize we’re the beta users, but I don’t feel like a lab rat. They’ve already done the research for us. We’re super committed to this.