Toyota is selling in over 170 markets, and around the world vehicle owners and the use of their vehicles are very diverse. Toyota aims to provide every customer with an appropriate solution that allows them to reduce their carbon footprint now. Driven by an evolving customer demand and Toyota’s holistic approach to mobility across all sectors, Toyota has been promoting a multi-path approach to carbon neutrality by offering a diverse vehicle line-up including all electrified technologies, Hybrid Electric, Plug-in Hybrid Electric, Battery Electric and Fuel Cell Electric, for over 20 years. The development of a successful hydrogen transport sector is an essential building block towards this goal. Toyota has been committed to Fuel Cell technology development for many years and has identified a new opportunity in the commercial vehicle market in terms of a zero-emissions product offering. The project’s aim is to adopt second generation Toyota fuel cell components (as used in the latest Toyota Mirai) for the transformation of a Hilux into a fuel cell electric vehicle. This project represents an exciting opportunity to investigate an additional application of Toyota’s fuel cell technology in a vehicle segment that is key to a number of industry groups and will help support the sector’s move towards decarbonisation. The design & development work include the optimised packaging for the Fuel Cell stack & BoP (Balance of Plant) components in the under-hood compartment. A key objective of the project is to differentiate this ZEV by obtaining a long range through maximizing the stored H2 underneath the vehicle floor, and retaining a fast refuelling time. As part of the electrified powertrain, an e-motor is installed to drive the wheels. The FC powertrain main components are carried over from existing mass production applications, with proven performance, quality and durability. Toyota successfully applied for APC (Advanced Propulsion Centre - UK) funding last year, presenting a project to contribute to the development of new, cleaner technologies and mobility solutions. The funding allows us to speed up the design and development of the FCEV Hilux together with the consortium partners. We are expecting to build the initial prototype vehicles at TMUK (Toyota Manufacturing UK) site in Burnaston during 2023. The team will receive the Hilux base model and FC Gen#2 fuel components from overseas. The unique conversion parts will be predominantly sourced within the UK & EU. After the conversion is finalised, the vehicles will go through an extensive evaluation & testing programme. This project represents many firsts for Toyota’s manufacturing site in the UK : 1st FC vehicle being built, 1st hydrogen project, 1st major conversion. And through this project, a lot of knowledge will be generated in the FCEV development & production area, extremely important to succeed in our journey towards carbon neutrality.

Mr. Timothy DHerde, Head of Powertrain 2 & Technical Head of Fuel Cell vehicle projects, Toyota Motor Europe