Electric vehicles or Hybrid Plug-In Electric Vehicles have been all the rage at the auto shows lately. Automakers are touting their abilities to go further for longer, or how their batteries are better. The EV, or Hybrid markets have come a long way from the first prototypes and offer a good alternative to gasoline vehicles, but Toyota has another option; a hydrogen fueled car.

The new Toyota vehicle named the Mirai is estimated to be able to go up to 300 miles per charge and can be charged in less than five minutes. With 153 horsepower, the Mirai is expected to have a starting MSRP of $57,500. The first phase of production, Toyota will produce three of these vehicles per day. Hydrogen vehicles leave nothing behind but water, and Toyota has been working on producing these vehicles for twenty years.

Competitors think that Toyota’s hydrogen fueled vehicle is made of “fool cells” because hydrogen is hard to produce and store let alone use it in a car. Toyota is sharing their over 5,000 patents with other companies for assistance in producing hydrogen with the hopes that it will one day be available all over the world. Their tanks are made of carbon fiber in order to be light-weight, durable, and incredibly solid.

Safety features have also been put in place for the Mirai. Toyota has built intelligent sensors for thoughtful motorists. Intelligent sensors include things like shut-off valves that isolate the hydrogen tanks in an emergency. A $5,000 rebate is available for California residents as well as use of HOV lanes with a single occupant as it is a zero emissions vehicle.

So where will you be able to fuel your Toyota Mirai when it becomes available in late 2015? Right now, only in California. Three hydrogen fueling stations are open as of now, but there are 46 that are planning to open in the near future. By 2020, 100 fueling stations will be available. According to the Toyota website, it appears these may only be available in California for quite some time, so we will have to wait and see when the rest of the country may have access.

The real question is, will other manufacturers recognize Toyota’s Mirai as a success and follow suite? Will the Hydrogen fueled vehicle take off as a prominent type of vehicle? Competitors like Tesla say no, but with planned growth of fueling stations, it will be interesting to see if any of the others will opt to enter the Hydrogen fuel market.