Hydrogen-Powered Toyota Pickup One Step Closer To Reality

Toyota has revealed a unique Hilux prototype that is designed to use a hydrogen fuel cell system rather than an internal combustion engine.

The project resulted from a consortium of companies coming together at Toyota Manufacturing UK,funded by the UK governmentto the tune of $13.8 million. The goal was to integrate the hydrogen fuel cell system from aToyota Miraiinto a Hilux, the foreign market equivalent of theToyota Tacoma.

With three high-pressure hydrogen tanks, Toyota says the Hilux FCEV (fuel-cell electric vehicle) can travel up to 365 miles, with water being the only emission. This is significantly further than if it relied solely on a battery. Speaking of which, Toyota has also experimented withbuilding a battery-electric Hilux. The latter is about as useless as cars can get, as the average Hilux typically covers hundreds of miles per day through Africa or in the Australian Outback.

This project had a quick turnaround time, starting in early 2022 and producing a working prototype in late 2023.

It began with a feasibility study by TMUK and Toyota Motor Europe with partners such as Ricardo, ETL, D2H Advanced Technologies, and Thatcham Research. Toyota started building prototypes on June 5 of this year and completed the first one just three weeks later. A total of 10 will be produced by the end of the year. These vehicles will undergo rigorous testing to help Toyota decide whether to build a production model. It's similar to whatBMW is doing with the iX5 Hydrogenbut on a much smaller scale.

Toyota has yet to confirm plans to put a hydrogen pickup truck into production, but the idea seems like a solid one because it avoids mining large amounts of lithium for a massive battery pack and delivers a long driving range. There is still one significant issue. There are at least some hydrogen stations in California. In Africa, they don't exist.