In what could be one of the biggest stories in the truck industry this year Toyota and Scania have announced that they are forming a partnership to advance hydrogen fuel cell solutions for heavy-duty mobility through real-world logistics operations.
The surprise is Scania’s heavy involvement in a technology that it has openly eschewed in recent times favouring a battery electric future and openly expressing doubt in the long term future of hydrogen fuel cells.
Toyota has been a pioneer of hydrogen fuel cell technology through its Mirai program and has been collaborating with several truck makers including Paccar and its own truck brand Hino.
The collaboration announced jointly in Belgium and Sweden yesterday, will see Toyota supply fuel cell systems for 40 heavy-duty vehicles within Scania’s Pilot Partner program.
The two companies said in the announcement that the program will bring Scania together with selected customers to evaluate a wide range of sustainable transport technologies, including hydrogen fuel cell system, under real operating conditions.
The two companies said that as zero-emissions heavy-duty fuel cell applications continue to expand, this initiative is expected to deliver confirmation of technical performance, operational efficiency and total cost of ownership.
“By integrating Toyota’s hydrogen fuel cell technology into this framework, the partnership will evaluate how fuel cell electric trucks can support demanding heavy-duty transport operations,” the statement said.
It outlined the fact that the vehicles will be equipped with Toyota’s latest third-generation fuel cell system, which it says delivers 300 kW of power in a highly compact design for heavy-duty applications and a wide range of other use cases and that the first Scania hydrogen fuel cell electric trucks will start operating during the first quarter of 2027.
Hiroki Nakajima, the executive vice president of Toyota Motor Corporation said that the company believes that heavy-duty transport is key to building hydrogen demand and infrastructure.
“Furthermore, we believe hydrogen is the right solution for demanding heavy-duty applications, where long range, high utilisation and operational efficiency are essential,” said Nakajima.
“By bringing Toyota’s third-generation fuel cell system into Scania customers’ logistics operations, together we are taking an important step towards enabling hydrogen-powered mobility to play a larger role across Europe’s heavy-duty transport industry,” he said.
