Sales of electric vehicles may be booming…

But Toyota isn’t giving up on its alternative.

On Wednesday (December 9) the Japanese giant put on sale a new version of its Mirai car.

It’s powered by a hydrogen fuel cell that produces no emissions apart from water.

Toyota says the technology offers greater range than electric vehicles - in the Mirai’s case close to 500 miles.

Sales have been slow though, amid concerns over a lack of fuelling stations and the model’s resale values.

But Mirai chief engineer Yoshikazu Tanaka says fuel cells offer huge potential:

"If we recognize hydrogen as a source of energy, there can be more ways to leverage the resource, such as generating electricity from hydrogen fuel cells. I think this can be a departure point for achieving a hydrogen society.”

The launch comes after Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga set a target of cutting the country’s carbon emissions to zero by 2050.

But Toyota only sold around 11,000 of the previous Mirai model, and at about 48,000 dollars the new one will still prove too expensive for most drivers.

Analysts say the company’s best chance of a breakthrough may lie in China.

Beijing is aiming to have more than one million fuel cell vehicles in service by 2030, and recently set out plans to boost the number of fuelling stations.