New Zealand rents out its first hydrogen cars — and here is why they leave on half a tank
Anyone hiring a car in New Zealand can now pick something that was never on the menu before: a hydrogen car. Since 17 August, three Toyota Mirais have been waiting at Ezi Car Rental at Palmerston North Airport, in the Manawatu region. It is the first time hydrogen driving has been available through the country's ordinary rental market.
What you get
The Mirai is a fuel cell car with a 128 kW stack driving a 134 kW electric motor, emitting nothing but water. Rentals run for a maximum of two days through Ezi's business portal at 99 dollars a day, with an introductory rate of 79 dollars until the end of September. Fuel is included, as is insurance with no excess. Ezi staff handle the refuelling themselves at the Hiringa station next door, in three to five minutes.
The half tank
The most striking detail: the cars leave with roughly half a tank, good for about 250 kilometres. A Mirai normally manages well over five hundred.
The explanation is technical and, frankly, rather interesting. The Hiringa station at the airport was built for heavy road transport, and those trucks fill at 350 bar. A passenger car like the Mirai is designed for 700 bar. Fill a 700-bar system from a 350-bar installation and the tank ends up around half full. The car drives perfectly well, just not as far as it could.
For a two-day rental in the region that is plenty. And it neatly illustrates how hydrogen infrastructure develops: heavy vehicles with fixed routes come first, and provision for passenger cars grows alongside them.
Why this still matters
New Zealand counts around forty hydrogen vehicles in a national fleet of nearly four million, three quarters of them Mirais. Until now, driving one meant going through a company or a demonstration project. A driving licence and a booking are enough today.
"The Mirai is a special experience, and renting one takes no more effort than hiring any other car," says Anthony Kearns, chief executive of Ezi Car Rental. For him the first encounter is what counts: "Once people try it, it will change how they think about travel."
Toyota New Zealand takes the same view. Rodger Spillane, senior manager of its hydrogen programme, calls it an opportunity to let people experience the Mirai and raise awareness of hydrogen mobility. The pilot runs until February 2027.
What could follow
Palmerston North is for now the only Ezi branch outside Auckland with hydrogen within reach. As Hiringa Energy's network expands, places such as Hamilton and Tauranga come into view, though nothing has been decided.
New Zealand is not the first with this idea. The Canary island of Fuerteventura already runs a rental fleet of thirty hydrogen cars. The pattern is the same: for a lot of people, a hire car is the easiest possible way to try one for themselves.
Sources
- H2-Mobile, Toyota Mirai en location en Nouvelle-Zelande, Michael Torregrossa, 22 August 2026
- Hiringa Energy, Manawatu becomes home to New Zealand's first Toyota Mirai rental fleet
- EVs and Beyond, NZ's first hydrogen rental cars arrive at 79 dollars a day
- MotoringNZ, Hydrogen for hire: Mirai now a rental, 17 August 2026
- Driven Car Guide, Now you can hire a hydrogen Toyota Mirai
