Toyota pressing ahead with hydrogen fuel cell plans
Toyota is using four hydrogen fuel cell trucks to help distribute spare parts from its sprawling European warehouse complex at Diest in Belgium.
Running at 40 tonnes, the 4×2 tractor units are based on DAF CFs equipped with Toyota’s own fuel cell modules and converted to fuel cell operation by Netherlands-based VDL Groep.
Each truck is operated by a different third-party distribution contractor: CEVA Logistics, Vos Transport Group, Yusen Logistics and Groupe CAR.
The initiative forms part of Toyota’s plan to achieve carbon neutrality across Europe by 2040.
Shinichi Yasui, said:
These trucks are the future of our logistics,” insists Toyota Motor Europe (TME) executive vice president,
“Our common enemy is CO2, and we need to reduce it as soon as possible.”
Since May, the 3.8m-wheelbase day-cab trucks have covered approximately 80,000km on four routes across three countries connecting Diest with Cologne in Germany, Lille in France and Amsterdam and Rotterdam in the Netherlands.
Supported by eight refuelling stations, they have consumed around 7kg of hydrogen per 100km apiece, saving over 80,000kg of CO2 when compared with a diesel truck on the same type of work says Toyota. The tractor units are proving to be reliable, it reports.
Weighing 11 tonnes, each unit has seven hydrogen tanks at a pressure of 350 bar mounted behind the cab, with the tank tower incorporating a cooling system. The tanks can accommodate up to 39kg of hydrogen.
A 360kW/480hp electric motor delivers the power, and the system incorporates a 210kWh battery. It can be used to get the vehicle back to base should hydrogen not be available, with a 100km range.
Range between refuelling stops is more than 400km, says Toyota, with the trucks regularly running at maximum gross weight.
Extending range
In hand are plans to extend the range with 700-bar tanks, boost power and efficiency by fitting Toyota’s third-generation fuel cell module, and further cut refuelling time, which in any event only takes a few minutes, using a mid-flow twin dispenser.
Likely further developments include deploying car transporters with fuel cell technology and providing a fuel cell package that can be fitted to sleeper cab tractor units. Sleeper cabs occupy more space on a chassis than day cabs.
Toyota’s aftersales logistics operation supports more than 3,000 dealers in 44 European markets, and Diest handles 120m items annually.
That means that as many as 500,000 parts and accessories are received and shipped by 200 truck movements every day.
Toyota’s fuel cell modules are also fitted to passenger cars and its plant in Burnaston, Derbyshire, has played a key role in the development of a prototype (rear-wheel-drive) fuel cell Hilux pick-up.
Toyota’s fuel cell modules are being supplied to other vehicle makers.
Toyota is not abandoning alternative zero-emission solutions. Its car and van line-up includes hybrid, plug-in hybrid and battery-electric models and it has just launched a 48v mild-hybrid version of Hilux.
Pursuing all of these routes and sticking with them comes with a substantial price tag.
That may go some way towards explaining why other manufacturers have opted to abandon fuel cells as, in their opinion, the route with the least immediate potential.
While hydrogen fuel cell trucks typically offer the benefits of a longer range than their pure-electric counterparts (although the range of the latter is improving), faster refuelling times, and are not burdened by heavy battery packs affecting their payload capability, they present their own challenges.
As things stand they are produced in penny-packet numbers, with no economies of scale.
This means they are even pricier than already-expensive electric models, and the lack of an established refuelling infrastructure makes their operation on long-distance routes problematic.
Hydrogen source
For the environmental argument to make sense, the hydrogen has to be green hydrogen from a sustainable source.
For the cost equation to be acceptable, it has to be competitively-priced into the bargain.
Toyota argues that China is heading in the right direction, with five large hydrogen hubs supporting 400 refuelling stations and 4,000 fuel cell trucks on the highway.
Chinese hydrogen costs a modest 5 euros a kilo compared with from 9.9 to 18 euros a kilo along the routes Toyota’s trucks are using.
Chinese hydrogen is classed as grey hydrogen, however. It is created through a process known as SMR – Steam Methane Reforming – which can generate an undesirable 9 to 12 tonnes of CO2 for every tonne of hydrogen produced.
Toyota aims to use green hydrogen instead.
Hydrogen can be used as a combustion fuel in engines that have been adapted for this purpose.
It is an approach that tolerates any impurities in the hydrogen burned – impurities that can seriously damage a fuel cell stack.
Converting an existing engine to run on hydrogen is simpler than choosing fuel cells, agrees Toyota senior research and development manager, Charles Ollivier.
He, says:
However, fuel cells are more efficient,
Burning hydrogen has the drawback that it generates some NOx which has to be dealt with using an emission control system, so it is not totally emission-free. All fuel cells produce is water.
Hydrogen should become more widely available across the European Union in the coming years, says Toyota, as a consequence of AFIR, the Alternative Fuel Infrastructure Regulation.
Among other requirements it mandates the installation of hydrogen refuelling stations for cars and trucks every 200km along key intercity routes, and in all major urban areas.
A 40-minute drive along the roads around Diest showed that the hydrogen trucks Toyota is using are remarkably vibration-free and quiet compared with a diesel.
The only noise of any consequence other than tyre noise appeared to come from the tank cooling system.
Drivers should remember that all the torque delivered by the electric motor is on tap the second they pull away from rest, and be trained accordingly.
Suddenly hurtling away from the starting line could lead to an accident.
Running Toyota’s entire parts delivery operation with fuel cell artics would require a substantial investment, but it is money the manufacturer seems willing to spend.
Its ultimate aim is to achieve total-cost-of-ownership parity with diesel models – having secured a reliable green hydrogen supply.
READ the latest news shaping the hydrogen market at Hydrogen Central
Toyota pressing ahead with hydrogen fuel cell plans, source
