Say goodbye to smoky, smoggy diesel haulers.
Toyota is no stranger to the world of hydrogen fuel cells. Surging ahead with the (relative) success of its Mirai hydrogen passenger car, they’ve pulled the wraps off of its latest hydrogen-powered vehicle, an 18-wheeler truck that they call ‘Project Portal.’
Last November, the Japanese automotive giant promised that it would be upsizing the fuel cell electric-vehicle system from its Mirai saloon to conduct a feasibility study, and here’s that promise being made good. It’s built of of a Kensworth truck chassis, packs about 478kW of power and 1797Nm of torque, enough grunt to haul just under 37,000kgs. Naturally, all that muscle comes from a considerably larger motor than the one found beneath the Mirai, and houses enough hydrogen storage to keep the big hauler going for over 300km between fill-ups.
“The power is large enough, and the drivability, performance, everything has to meet the current diesel truck requirement,” said Toyota’s senior executive engineer Takehito Yokoo in an interview with Forbes. “Because we are using a hydrogen fuel cell and motor, this is an EV. But not a battery-powered EV. The exhaust emission is zero; Only water vapour coming out.”
More than just a concept though, this zero-emissions hauler is going straight to work at the Port of Los Angeles, the busiest container port in the United States. A mammoth feat that required great preparation, as Craig Scott (Toyota’s US national manager for advanced technology) explained that the company had spent a lot of time with hauling companies in the port to learn the unique requirements of a truck in such an environment.
“They had done a lot of pilot programs with CNG & electric vehicles, and they all had the same complaints: ‘It’s not really feasible. We can’t replace our diesel trucks with these because we can’t refuel quickly or the performance of the truck isn’t good enough.’ We thought great, the fuel cell handles both of those,” Scott said.
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