UK-built Toyota Hilux FCEV begins testing

Ten hydrogen-powered Hiluxes are helping Toyota keep the fuel cell dream alive

By Matt Bird / Friday, 7 June 2024 / Loading comments

Credit where it’s due to Toyota, it doesn’t tend to follow the crowd when it comes to trends. When nobody was too interested in rally-inspired road cars any longer, it made the GR Yaris - and flipped the hot hatch market on its head. With sports cars also not on many agendas, it made the GR86 and reminded everyone why the genre is so important. And now, with the commercial vehicle sector undergoing its own battery-powered electrification, Toyota has again floated a different option by building 10 hydrogen-powered Hiluxes.

That’s right, no one-off, toe-in-the-water prototype test. Toyota Motor Manufacturing UK in Derby, following the debut of a car last September, has built 10 fully functional Hilux Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles. Livery aside, there’s nothing to mark the Hilux out as any different to a diesel-powered version: its dimensions (5,235mm long by 1,855mm wide and 1,810mm tall) are identical, plus both payload and towing weight are increased because hydrogen is so light. The gas is stored in three 2.6kg fuel tanks mounted in the ladder frame chassis, with the battery above them in the rear deck; the 330-cell fuel cell that creates the electricity is above the front axle. Toyota says cabin space isn’t impacted, though presumably the load bay suffers a tad (there’s not a pic available).

Power is rated at 182hp and torque at 221lb ft, which can’t quite compete with the 2.8-litre diesel’s 204hp and 369lb ft, though ought to be enough for the required duties of the rear-wheel drive truck. And just water vapour leaves the back, of course. As for zero emissions alternatives, Toyota reckons that 600km (373 miles) is possible on a tank, which is more than a comparable battery-powered truck. And hydrogen takes less time to replenish (if you can find a station).

Toyota assembles its fuel cell modules in Belgium, and the Hydrogen Factory Europe is working on a third generation that ought to be on sale by 2027, further increasing the range and power of cars like the Mirai. The manufacturer reckons that technology and increased volumes can help reduce costs ‘by more than a third’, which of course has to be factored in when considering the adoption of lower-emissions drivetrains. Making a Mirai work with your life would be tricky enough already, before thinking about the £65k asking price.

A hydrogen Hilux has a little way to go then, but this new fleet is an encouraging development given that the first truck was shown as recently as September. Half of them will undergo ‘rigorous field testing to assess safety, performance, functionality, and durability, generating test drive data in real-world situations’, while the other five are doing media demos that will also include going to the Olympics. Toyota says that its experience will be combined with its 30-plus years of hydrogen cars to help the next generation of FCEVs. That’s over here, too, with Europe set to be ‘one of the largest’ hydrogen markets come 2030.

There aren’t any numbers attached to that claim, because right now it feels like hydrogen will remain a bit-part player in the push to carbon neutrality. But never has the automotive industry felt like it’s changing at such a pace, so who really knows? Toyota is keeping its options open, for cars and commercial vehicles, and that looks like a sensible strategy versus all eggs in one basket. It’s hoping for the Hiluxes to ‘further develop hydrogen technology and stimulate a wider roll-out of hydrogen eco-systems and infrastructure across Europe’. Given everything Toyota’s iconic truck has achieved since the 1960s, from conquering the North Pole to winning Dakar, that’ll be a breeze.