Despite all the progress made in the field of batteries for electric vehicles, Toyota is one of the few automakers that still believes in the potential of hydrogen to displace Mr. and Mrs. Everybody.
The thing is, refueling stations are as hard to find in Canada as the Mirai on its website and on the road. By the way, how many copies did Toyota manage to lease domestically in 2021? Answer: 128. In 2020, the year the pandemic started, it was 21.
At the same time, the company is stepping up efforts to save the combustion engine from extinction. Remember that alliance formed with Mazda, Subaru, Kawasaki and Yamaha last November? Well, Toyota and Yamaha – the two partners who designed the prodigious V10 of the defunct Lexus LFA – announce the joint development of a new engine that runs on hydrogen.
5.0 liter V8
Unlike the Mirai’s technology, no fuel cells or electric motors are part of the equation here. Instead, we are talking about a 5.0-litre V8, that of the Lexus IS 500 F Sport Performance and RC F, which runs on hydrogen instead of gasoline thanks to a series of modifications made to the cylinder head, the injectors , intake manifold and other components.
Photo: Toyota
Toyota and Yamaha have experience in this area, having already competed in races in Japan with hydrogen-powered vehicles (modified Corollas, to be precise). In this case, power could climb to 455 horsepower at 6,800 rpm and torque to 398 lb-ft from 3,600 rpm – figures almost comparable to those obtained with gasoline.
“Hydrogen engines have the potential to be carbon neutral and keep our passion for internal combustion engines alive at the same time,” says Yamaha Motor President Yoshihiro Hidaka.
This one exemplifies a “harmonic sound” created by the unique 8-into-1 exhaust system that would be attached to the V8 in question. His colleague in charge of automotive technical research and development at Yamaha, Takeshi Yamada, praises the “fun and user-friendly driving” of vehicles powered by a hydrogen engine.
Hydrogen to partially save combustion engines, do you believe in it? Once again, we come back to the question: who wants to invest in setting up new hydrogen stations right now?