Toyota Hilux FCEV: the hydrogen problem Toyota wants to solve

Few industries are investing as heavily in decarbonising their operations as the automotive sector. This transformation is taking place throughout the supply chain, even before manufacturing begins, and its costs are being passed on in the final price of cars.

There are countless routes towards these emissions targets: electrified combustion engines, combustion engines powered by e-fuels, battery-electric motors and, finally, electric vehicles using fuel cells (hydrogen) - or, if you prefer, fuel cells.

Regarding this final option, several manufacturers are backing a future driven, at least in part, by hydrogen. And I do not think it is merely marketing. If it were, we would be looking at the worst marketing campaign ever. Consumers are not especially keen to hear about these solutions, so it can only come down to conviction, necessity, or both.

Only this week, we reported on a hydrogen joint venture between Toyota and BMW. Stellantis, Renault and Hyundai can also be included. Each of these brands has projects, at different stages, involving hydrogen as an energy source for its vehicles.

However, there is a long road, with major challenges, between announcements and production. Toyota is the best-known and most widely reported case. The Japanese manufacturer has a natural tendency to pursue complex paths. It did so with hybrids in 1997 - technology that has now secured the brand a TOP 2 position in the European market - and it is doing so again with hydrogen technology.

Both cases share one common factor: very few people believed in these technologies when they first reached the market. So why “take on” this problem? Because, as we will see, some solutions cannot be postponed.

The emissions problem

In Europe, Diesel vehicles are increasingly living on borrowed time, and the first casualties have already appeared. The new Mitsubishi L200, for instance, is sold in almost every part of the world but no longer meets European standards, so it is not available in our market.

It would be easy to present electric pick-ups as the alternative, yet in many situations they simply are not. That applies here, where the charging network remains limited or does not suit consumers’ everyday needs, and on the other side of the world, where economies cannot absorb the added costs and therefore require low-cost pick-ups.

So the more radical environmentalists, who want fossil fuels to end immediately, may not want to read this: the good old Diesel engine still keeps thousands of businesses moving every day. Without it, the world would stop.

Since stopping the world is not an answer, thousands of engineers are working day and night to find solutions. The Toyota Hilux Diesel we know today may well be the next victim.

Toyota Hilux FCEV: the alternative to battery-electric pick-ups

This is where the Toyota Hilux FCEV (fuel cell electric vehicle) comes in, as an alternative to fully electric pick-ups.

We drove one of this model’s prototypes and show you everything in this video:

When discussing the technology, its advantages are easy to explain because they are almost self-evident. In little more than five minutes, the hydrogen tanks can be refilled, delivering a range that can exceed 500 km. The end result is simple: water from the exhaust and zero emissions.

Its problems are equally easy to identify. Where do we refuel? That is before even considering its production, storage and distribution. There is plenty to discuss there.

My proposal is different: to examine how Toyota’s engineers are tackling the issue. It is a very Japanese approach: one problem at a time.

The problem Toyota is tackling

We have finally reached the question at the heart of this Autopédia article: the issue Toyota is attempting to solve with this Toyota Hilux FCEV. It is called packaging or, if you prefer, fitting everything in. It does not sound quite as good in English, does it?

Even if we assume that hydrogen refuelling issues had been solved and that costs were comparable with Diesel, one problem would remain: the Diesel version is still more capable than this FCEV version.

At present, fitting the fuel cell, hydrogen tanks and battery into the Hilux means there is no room for the four-wheel-drive system, while the load bed loses space. These are two essential features for a working pick-up. No pick-up can succeed like that.

Toyota’s engineers are therefore facing the challenge of incorporating all these systems into the Hilux without sacrificing either the 4X4 system or load capacity. There are other matters to address, but those have already been resolved.

When all is said and done, we do not know whether hydrogen vehicles will succeed - I doubt anyone does… - but one thing is certain: if the development of fuel cell vehicles is halted, they will definitely never become an alternative.

According to the Toyota technicians we had the chance to speak with, the question of production costs has already been partly addressed. With every new generation, fuel cell costs are falling dramatically. Consider that the Toyota Mirai currently on sale is priced at around €65,000 - very close to an equivalent electric saloon.

There is therefore no alternative but to keep engineers happy. In other words, provide R&D departments with the funding engineers need to do what they enjoy most: solving problems.