What Makes Toyota’s Hydrogen Combustion Engine Special?

 

The automaker has already rolled out a fuel cell car, but now it’s also working on using H2 in a new way.

Toyota has been developing a new vehicle with a hydrogen combustion engine, taking a new direction using H2 aside from its Mirai which is powered by a fuel cell.

 

The Japanese automaker is aiming to use H2 to its fullest and some suspect this could leave EVs behind.
 

With the hydrogen combustion engine, Toyota is working on a new branch in its diversified carbon neutrality approach. Though the automaker began cutting down on fossil fuel powered vehicles starting in 1997, when it first rolled out its Prius, the automaker hasn’t put all its eggs in the all-electric basket. Moreover, the first fully battery electric vehicle (EV) it did release, the BZ4X, sold only a few hundred units (by October 2022), and the company doesn’t intend to boost its production of that vehicle until 2025.
 

 

“People involved in the auto industry are largely a silent majority,” said Toyota president Akio Toyoda. “That silent majority is wondering whether EVs are really OK to have as a single option. But they think it’s the trend so they can’t speak out loudly. Because the right answer is still unclear, we shouldn’t limit ourselves to just one option.”

 

While battery electrics have certainly outsold H2 cars by a wide margin, according to JD Power, those vehicles still represent a small fraction of the total new car market.

 

Toyota recently unveiled its Corolla Cross H2 hydrogen combustion engine concept vehicle.
 

While the Mirai fuel cell electric vehicle has experience a slow roll-out to limited adoption – for a spectrum of reasons – Toyota’s prototype for an H2 internal combustion engine (ICE) in the form of the Corolla Cross H2 Concept opens up a new category for these cars.

 

Toyota’s hydrogen combustion engine was developed out of the 1.6 liter turbocharged three-cylinder already seen in the GR Yaris and the GR Corolla. Of course, it has been altered to use H2 as its fuel. The process of this alteration included the addition of a heavy-duty fuel tank to contain the H2 under high pressure. That component was swiped from the Mirai.