If you think of Toyota and fuel cells, you almost certainly think of the Prius, the workhorse of the Uber network.  What you perhaps don’t think of is a heavy duty truck, yet the company is teaming up with Hino Motors to test a fuel cell truck that the pair believe could significantly reduce carbon emissions.

It’s believed that heavy-duty trucks account for around 60% of the CO2 emissions from commercial vehicles in Japan, and the team believe that electrification could significantly reduce that environmental footprint.

For this to happen, the powertrain must be adapted to ensure maximum environmental performance and practicality as a business vehicle.  This includes functionality such as its cruising range, load capacity, and so on.

Heavy-duty trucks are usually used for inter-city transportation, so must have sufficient load capacity and cruising range, with refuelling capability also a key factor.  As such, hydrogen-based fuel cells are likely to be the best solution.

Efficient trucking

The solution proposed by the team is based upon the Hino Profia, and aims to tap into the rich seam of vehicle technologies being developed by the two companies.  For instance, the chassis is designed to enable optimum packaging for a fuel cell vehicle, with weight reductions allowing sufficient load capacity.

Similarly, the powertrain comes with two fuel cell stacks that have been developed by Toyota for the Mirai.  The powertrain comes with elements of vehicle driving control through the tech being developed by Hino, and aims to come with a cruising range of around 370 miles, thus rendering it both environmental and practical.

Toyota and Hino have positioned hydrogen as an important energy source for the future and have worked together on the development and proliferation of fuel cell technologies since conducting joint trials of a fuel cell bus in 2003.  Going forward, Toyota and Hino will further strengthen this partnership and accelerate efforts toward the realisation of a hydrogen society.