Toyota Fires Back at Elon Musk

2016 Toyota Mirai

One of the best things about the automotive industry is when catfights break out. While it might be minimally entertaining to watch executives lose it on social media, like when certain Bentley designers unloaded on Lincoln, it’s so much more enjoyable to witness a truly witty reply to a competitor’s dig.

That’s exactly what Toyota delivered recently when it release a video called “Fueled by Bullsh*t.” Most people probably don’t know about or remember that Elon Musk, the head of Tesla, called hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles BS. Without throwing around names, Toyota uses some humor to turn that criticism on its head and help educate the public about ways to create hydrogen fuel using renewable resources.

The video shows how cow manure is used as a source for biogas, which is put through a steam methane reformer. While pretty much all of the details of the production process are glossed over, the delivery is still slick enough to get the message across to the average person.

Toyota knows it’s facing an uphill battle with the Mirai, which is the company’s first production fuel-cell vehicle. Many proponents of electric cars view any resources being used to develop cars powered by hydrogen at best as silly and at worst a direct threat. Toyota, along with Hyundai and Honda, has been accused of promoting “junk science” and wasting its time with technology that will never work in the real world. The funny thing is that the same accusations were leveled against fans of electric vehicles not that long ago (and still are by some people).

Morgan Spurlock, the guy who made Supersize Me, made an entire series of videos for Toyota, called “Fueled by Everything.” Each one highlights a different way that hydrogen is created using renewable methods. Having Spurlock on board for the project helps give it a bit of a rebellious edge, but the jury’s still out about whether it’ll get the general public excited about the Mirai or other fuel-cell vehicles.