Toyota has chosen Australia as the primary nation on this planet for a pilot program of its lately revealed HiAce Hydrogen prototype.
The pilot program will see seven examples of the Toyota Hydrogen HiAce prototype made accessible to fleet operators in Australia from later this month.
Every mortgage will likely be for a interval of as much as a month, with the fleet operator required to report day by day on their expertise.
Toyota has confirmed the primary firm to make use of the Hydrogen HiAce prototype will likely be CPB Contractors, which is one among Australia’s main designers and builders of large-scale infrastructure.
CPB Contractors will likely be utilizing the Hydrogen HiAce prototype to move staff from numerous factors for a venture in Melbourne.
The Japanese carmaker has additionally confirmed it’s “at present chatting with quite a lot of different clients”.
“Australia is the proper place to run such a program with our Federal and State Governments having already dedicated $6.3 billion in funding for hydrogen initiatives underneath the Nationwide Hydrogen Technique,” mentioned Toyota Australia president and CEO Matthew Callachor.
“We even have an intensive number of environments and weather conditions that may allow us to guage the hydrogen powertrain expertise to its fullest and guarantee it delivers on Toyota’s excessive requirements”.
Toyota Australia senior supervisor of car analysis and laws, Ray Munday, added Australia is the “central level” for the event of the Hydrogen HiAce prototype.
“For industrial autos Australia’s seen as a very superb place to develop these autos to then be appropriate for the remainder of the world,” mentioned Mr Mundary.
“We’ve examined this automobile within the centre of Australia, we’ve examined it in different areas as nicely. It has a really versatile utilization.
“As a result of we’re utilizing the present inside combustion expertise there’s much less blind spots of recent expertise.
“Once more, every thing’s bought its pluses and minuses, however [hydrogen combustion technology] has the benefit of the excessive load and a really large environmental circumstances.”
The Toyota Hydrogen HiAce prototype is powered by a 3.4-litre twin-turbo V6 engine modified to run on compressed hydrogen gasoline as a substitute of petrol.
This engine is at present used with petrol within the Lexus LX 600 in Australia, in addition to the Toyota LandCruiser 300 Collection in different markets.
The hydrogen-fuelled V6 engine within the HiAce prototype produces 120kW of energy and 354Nm of torque. That is 185kW and 296Nm lower than its petrol-fuelled counterpart.
Drive is shipped to the rear wheels solely by means of a 10-speed automated transmission.
The inner combustion engine is fed by three hydrogen gas tanks much like those used within the present Mirai hydrogen fuel-cell electrical automobile (FCEV). The Mirai has a hydrogen capability of 5.6kg.
Toyota claims the Hydrogen HiAce prototype has a spread of round 200km. For context, the Mirai has a NEDC claimed vary of 650km.
This theoretically means the Hydrogen HiAce prototype consumes thrice the quantity of hydrogen the Mirai does when driving.
Few different technical particulars are identified concerning the Hydrogen HiAce prototype at this stage, although it does have a 1500kg towing capability and “minimal affect” on payload and inside house.
Toyota claims it’s already engaged on rising the dimensions of the hydrogen storage tanks and bettering combustion, in addition to exploring the potential of including hybrid expertise.
