Toyota is developing a combustion engine that runs on hydrogen. Initially, Toyota will participate with the engine in the Japanese touring car championship ‘Super Taikyu Series’. In racing, the brand wants to further fine-tune the engine. Whether the technology will eventually reach the production stage is not yet known, but Toyota seems to be aiming for it.
Most car manufacturers are currently fully committed to BEVs at the expense of hydrogen-powered cars. Toyota is also working on a BEV, but is nevertheless sticking to the further development of hydrogen. The brand recently launched the second generation of the Mirai. In the Mirai it is a fuel cell that provides the electricity for the propulsion, but Toyota is also breeding on a 1.6 three-cylinder turbo engine that uses hydrogen as fuel. The fuel supply and injectors have been adapted compared to a petrol engine, but otherwise the operation is the same. According to Toyota, the result is a CO2 emission of 0 grams per kilometer. Only the small amount of oil that the engine burns produces emissions. It is not known how much power the power source delivers. Based on the engine displacement and the number of cylinders, it is not inconceivable that Toyota has taken the power source of the GR Yaris as a starting point. In that car, the block delivers 261 hp.
A combustion engine that runs on hydrogen has a number of advantages, according to Toyota: the combustion is faster than with petrol engines, so that the engine must respond more quickly to input from the driver. Furthermore, a hydrogen engine makes noise and produces vibrations, which should contribute to the driving experience. What the engine sounds like is not yet known. On May 21, Toyota will be deploying the engine for the first time in the Super Taikyu Series, where the power unit will be located in a race car based on the Corolla Sport.
In production?
Toyota does not yet mention concrete plans for the production of a hydrogen engine, but it does emphasize that it is implementing the knowledge that the brand is gaining in motorsport in its production cars, with the GR Yaris being mentioned as an example. It is therefore not inconceivable that the hydrogen engine will eventually find its way to one or more Toyota models.