Toyota Mirai FCVs Gear Up For ‘Clean’ Police Work In London

Criminals may not be impressed with the Metropolitan Police Service’s latest rides, namely 11 Toyota Mirais, but environmentalists will.

The first batch was already shipped by the automaker and all cars are equipped with all the necessary gizmos to help officers fight crime. Some of them feature the special police livery and roof-mounted emergency lights, whereas others are unmarked, “for overt and covert response, as well as general purpose use”, explains Toyota.

Part of London Mayor’s clean air strategy plan, and an ambitious goal set by the Metropolitan Police Service of having the world’s largest fleet of zero-emission hydrogen fuel cell police cars, the Mirai can travel for approximately 300 miles (483 km) on a single tank. After that, they will have to pay a visit to one of the five hydrogen filling stations in England’s capital, a number that’s said to increase in the future.

“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“, said Met Commander, Neil Jerome. “Since late 2015, we have been actively looking at ways to hybridize and electrify our fleet, as well as exploring other new technologies such as hydrogen. This is enabling us to make great strides towards our ambition of procuring 550 vehicles as zero or ultra-low emission by 2020.”

Introduced at the 2014 LA Auto Show and put into production the following year, the Toyota Mirai is a four-door D-segment car. Officially, it needs less than 10 seconds to accelerate from 0 to 62mph (0-100km/h) and has a top speed of 110mph (178km/h). The sticker price in Europe is a steep €66,000 ($81,318) excluding local taxes, but the automaker is also offering lease plans to interested customers.