Toyota Hydrogen Fuel Cell Project Advances

Toyota entered the demonstration phase of its hydrogen fuel cell project, taking half of 10 Hilux pickup truck prototypes it’s built since last fall into field testing and the other half into customer and media demonstrations.

“By engaging customers with hydrogen fuel cell technology, Toyota is laying the groundwork for a successful hydrogen transport sector in the future,” the Japanese automaker said in a press release.

The demonstration trucks will make appearances at the summer Olympic games in Paris.

Toyota touts the hydrogen-fueled vehicles as a spoke in a wheel of power trains to achieve its goal of carbon neutrality for its lineup “to suit different user needs and local infrastructure.”

The other spokes are hybrid electric, plug-in hybrid electric, battery electric and e-fuels.       

The 10 Hilux were built at its Derby, England factory, incorporating what Toyota says is 30 years of hydrogen fuel cell research and development. It says it expects Europe to be one of the biggest commercial markets for hydrogen fuel cell vehicles by 2030.

Toyota says the Hilux project “will contribute to the next generation of fuel cell technology, which will offer longer lifecycles, increased driving range for vehicles and significantly reduced costs.”

The Hilux adapts the emerging power train technology to Toyota’s conventional Hilux truck, first produced in 1968 and introduced to the U.S. market in 1972, replacing it here with the Tacoma in 1995.

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