The brand’s hydrogen production president, Mitsumasa Yamagata, said the alternative fuel would be suitable for large vehicles such as the Land Cruiser. It is not yet known whether it will be an electric installation, like the Mirai sedan, or an internal combustion engine fueled with hydrogen. The brand’s engineers note that alternative fuel can provide a “fantastic” range, but it has its drawbacks.
Yamagata mentioned the hydrogen Land Cruiser during the Australian debut of the alternative fuel Toyota HiAce prototype. The minivan was equipped with a 3.5-liter supercharged V6 – the same one that powers the Land Cruiser 300, but adapted to run on hydrogen.
Toyota Hydrogen HiAce Prototype
Toyota
The modification led to a 2.5-fold drop in power: on the HiAce V6 it amounted to 161 horsepower (354 Nm of torque) instead of 409 horsepower (650 Nm) for the gasoline “original.” Hydrogen is stored in three tanks similar to those found in the second-generation Toyota Mirai. While HiAce cannot be called economical: it will consume 141 liters over 200 kilometers. Thus, the installation will need serious modifications.
There is another unit that can go to the hydrogen Land Cruiser. At the beginning of 2022, Yamaha Motor, at the request of Toyota, developed a hydrogen-powered V8, using the gasoline-aspirated Lexus RC F coupe as a basis. Losses were significantly less than in the case of the HiAce: the stated output of the eight was 455 forces and 540 Nm versus 477 forces and 535 Nm for a standard internal combustion engine.
Toyota says it is optimizing and improving hydrogen installations, which could help on the path to carbon neutrality. However, the brand recently acknowledged the market failure of the Mirai sedan. Management noted that hydrogen fuel cells are more suitable for commercial vehicles rather than conventional passenger cars.
New hydrogen cars
