Japanese vehicle manufacturer Toyota’s first fuel-cell modules for heavy-duty trucks will be destined mostly for the California market, according to James Kast, fuel-cell business analyst, enterprise strategy at Toyota Motor North America.

Toyota announced in late August that production of the second-generation dual modules will start in Kentucky in 2023 at the firm’s manufacturing plant in Kentucky and will launch commercially the same year.

Prototype modules of the drivetrain have been real-world tested in vehicle manufacturer Kenworth’s T680 trucks at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach in California. The state, equivalent to the world’s fifth-largest economy, requires that all new drayage trucks on its roads are emissions-free by 2035.

Toyota is targeting California first because it has “the infrastructure, infrastructure support and policy support”, says Kast. He notes there are some 20,000 drayage trucks—and 200,000 class-eight trucks—on the state’s roads.

20,000 – Number of drayage trucks on California’s roads

Drayage trucks—which transport goods over short distances—are California’s highest priority for reducing CO₂ emissions because of their size and fuel consumption.

Globally, the heavy-duty truck sector accounts for less than 10pc of vehicles yet contributes approximately 40pc of vehicle-generated carbon emissions, according to a July 2021 report by the California Fuel Cell Partnership, a public-private partnership that promotes hydrogen vehicles. Kast is chair of the partnership.

Long-term demand potential

The market for fuel-cell heavy-duty trucks is niche and in its early days, but demand will be massive in the longer term, Kast predicts. Only a few hundred fuel-cell heavy-duty trucks exist globally so far, about 100 of which are in China, but virtually every major US vehicle manufacturer is involved in plans to develop them.

Of the potential market for fuel-cell heavy truck modules elsewhere in the US, Kast notes that 16 other states are looking at following in California’s footsteps in terms of emissions-free vehicles, although they are lagging behind by a few years.

Kast says economies of scale for fuel-cell drayage trucks can be achieved more easily because large vehicles use more hydrogen, hastening investment and innovation in infrastructure for the fuel.

Toyota’s new heavy-duty fuel-cell module will deliver more than 300 miles of range at a full load weight of 360,000kg. Toyota’s fuel-cell technology for heavy-duty trucks is a scaled-up version of the drivetrain in the firm’s Mirai, a fuel-cell sedan that has been mass produced since 2014. The US is the Mirai’s top market.

Apart from the partnership with Kenworth, Toyota’s new fuel-cell module for class-eight trucks will be used by heavy-duty truck manufacturer Hino, a Toyota-owned company, says Kast.

When asked about fuel-cell parity with diesel heavy-duty trucks on a total cost of ownership basis, Kast cites the prediction of the Hydrogen Council, a global CEO-led initiative, that parity will be reached in about 2030. 

The US is the Mirai’s top market

Broader applications for fuel cells beyond road transport include ships, trains and aircraft as well as stationary uses such as backup power for data centres.

Toyota is not just developing hydrogen fuel cells for the vehicle market. The carmaker announced in 2019 that it had installed a stationary fuel-cell generator based on the Mirai fuel-cell system at its Honsha plant in Japan, the oldest Toyota plant.

Toyota’s Environmental Challenge 2050 initiative aims to eliminate CO₂ emissions almost completely from its vehicles, operations and supply chain by 2050.

In late July, automotive fuel-cell frontrunner Hyundai announced it will bring its XCIENT Fuel Cell heavy-duty truck to California by early 2023. The truck debuted in Switzerland last year and has a range of about 500 miles.

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Author: Ros Davidson