Toyota wants the internal combustion engine to continue. To make that happen they are working with carbon-neutral fuels, including hydrogen. To help develop that, they are using motorsports.
Motorsports as a Testing Ground
Toyota started running a hydrogen-fueled ICE GR Corolla in the Super Taikyu endurance series in 2021. The car employs a version of the 1618cc straight-three G16E-GTS engine that you’d find in the GR Corolla.
According to a Google translation of Toyota Gazoo Racing’s Japanese website, the goal for running in the series is simple:
“Run, break, fix, and become stronger … Train cars in a harsh motorsports environment.”
Koji Sato, who’s set to succeed Toyoda as Toyota’s president in April, confirmed the premise behind running its Corolla in the series. “By pushing the car to its limits, problems can be quickly identified,” Sato told the company’s Toyota Times. “We can then agilely formulate countermeasures to be ready for the next race. If you are developing technology for a simpler car, much can be done in the laboratory; however, through the Super Taikyu Series, we are conducting a major demonstration trial aimed at achieving a hydrogen society.”
Toyota Times revealed what gains they made in 2022: “This season, the hydrogen-powered Corolla increased its power output by 7%, torque by 5%, and driving range by 15%. Compared to its debut race last year [in 2021], output has improved by 24%, and the driving range has improved by 30%. Pre-ignition suppression technology has also steadily improved, with the frequency of pre-ignition during the final race being reduced to less than half of what it was during the opening race.”
The Challenges of Hydrogen
Hydrogen is incredibly abundant, and burning it results in water as the byproduct. The trick, however, is separating it from the other elements that it readily bonds with.
Toyota produces the hydrogen it uses from two plants powered by solar cells. “Up to 370 Nm3 of hydrogen is produced per hour by electrolyzing water with electricity derived from solar power,” said Toyota of its hydrogen fuel factory in the Yamanashi Prefecture.
Now that you have the hydrogen, you have to get it to the vehicle. To transport it to the races, Toyota uses bio-fuel trailers hauled by electric fuel cell trucks. Since starting the program, they’ve increased the capacity of the hydrogen tanks by approximately four-fold. Toyota achieved this by using lightweight resin liners in the tanks that upped the pressure from 20 MPa to 45 MPa. Prior to the 2022 season, they looked to increase tank pressure even further to 70 MPa.
To improve the energy density of hydrogen, Toyota would like to go from using gaseous hydrogen to liquid hydrogen. This will not only extend the range of the fuel, but also the applications for it.
Currently, the Corolla uses four fuel tanks that add up to 180 liters of capacity (47.6 gallons). During pit stops, they refill them from both sides of the car. To quickly fuel the car is a challenge as “normally, the temperature inside the tank increases rapidly if filled all at once, but we have changed the filling port and piping to handle large flow rates while ensuring safety to make sure the upper temperature limit isn’t reached,” according to Toyota. They have reduced the time to refill the tanks to one and a half minutes.
One Common Concern
When many people think of hydrogen, an image comes to their mind: the Hindenburg airship engulfed in flames. Yes, hydrogen is also highly combustible, but that applies to many fuels.
Last August, Toyota ran into that perception when it did a demonstration run with a hydrogen-fueled GR Yaris during the World Rally Championship event in Ypres, Belgium. It was Toyota’s first venture with a hydrogen-fueled ICE car outside of Japan.
“In the past, hydrogen was commonly associated with dangerous explosions,” Toyoda told the company’s Toyota Times. “When I recently visited Belgium to drive a WRC demo car, we had to do a great deal of explaining about infrastructure safety measures.
“But when they found out that the president himself would be driving, the organizers’ tone changed to ‘go ahead and try it.’
“Whether it’s hydrogen or any other new option, there are always risks and dangers at first. And when it comes to the hydrogen engine’s development, I assure you that Toyota’s accounting department has been scrutinizing the feasibility even more than you guys!
“However, my actions can change the way others act. In particular, I believe that my risk-taking is one of the reasons why more and more people are joining the cause.”
Back to the Future
For those who love old cars, what about them? What happens if fossil fuels become difficult to obtain? Toyota’s working on carbon-neutral solutions, which included the AE86 H2 Concept dubbed “Trueno.“
It has an engine converted to run on hydrogen. It is the same internal combustion engine, the 4A-GEU, that came with the car.
A Google translation of the Japanese Toyota Gazoo Racing site provides additional details: “… we have developed a vehicle that can drive while enjoying the appeal of internal combustion engines such as sound and vibration. Two Mirai high-pressure hydrogen tanks are installed at the rear, and other changes include injectors, fuel delivery, and plugs to minimize the scale of modifications.”
“There are lots of people here at Auto Salon who wants to enjoy their car life with their favorite cars,” Toyoda said. “Although the AE86 conversion technology is still under development ... By talking about this today with car lovers ... I hope to dismiss the fear that we won’t be able to drive our beloved cars when we go carbon neutral. On the contrary, there is a carbon neutral path that car lovers can take.”
Going Forward
Photography Credit: Toyota Times
How close are we to seeing hydrogen-fueled ICE cars in the showroom and conversion kits for your AE 86?
“Commercialization is still a way off,” Toyoda told Toyota Times. “In terms of climbing the mountain toward market-ready hydrogen engines, we are still less than halfway to the summit.”
Yes, Toyota has created a visual using Mount Fuji, with 10 “stations,” as it makes progress to bringing hydrogen-fueled cars to the market. During June’s 24-hour race at Fuji Speedway, Toyota said it was at its fourth station. As of February 7, it has updated that status.
“Since then, development has continued, and there is no doubt that we are now going from the fourth to the fifth station,’ said Tomoya Takahashi, GR Vehicle Development Division’s General Manager, in the Toyota Times. “Aiming for mass production, emission development at the fourth station has started in parallel with development for the race. A new dedicated team has been established to accelerate development.
“The fifth station’s functionality and reliability measures are issues we found to be caused by the high-rpm, high-load environment used at Super Taikyu races. These issues are also being worked on via mass production development by the new team in parallel with the race.
“At the sixth station, we have tank downsizing. This is an effort to increase the driving range with liquid hydrogen.
“I think liquid hydrogen will be an even more difficult road to travel, so I would like to start by releasing a car that uses gaseous hydrogen.
“We have started moving toward the fourth, fifth, and sixth stations in our climb up the mountain. Although it is now possible to safely run the engine in the next step after working on the first station’s problems, such as abnormal combustion, we have yet to reach the stage where we have fully mastered the underlying mechanics.
“We would like to improve the road conditions so that our partners in the hydrogen-use area can climb the mountain with peace of mind.”
The road may be long, but Akio Toyoda, who continue on as chairman of Toyota after stepping down as president, still remains committed to the hydrogen dream.
“While pursuing hydrogen-powered engines may not seem rational right now, the truth is that we also have considerable support from fellow car-lovers,” Toyoda said. “As long as there are such like-minded car-lovers in the world, I feel that I still have a role to play, so I’d like to continue our endeavor for the time being.”
Photography Courtesy Toyota unless otherwise credited
2 miles away from me there already is a hydrogen fueling station which was the first in the nation experiment to run 3 pickups on hydrogen produced from 2 wind tower generators. They expanded it to run 2 diesel tractors also but for some reason, there is no follow up on the conclusions of the study.
