Test programme for hydrogen trucks launched

Together with Coca-Cola, Toyota has launched a test programme in which a hydrogen-powered fuel cell truck will become part of the beverage manufacturer's supply chain.

According to Toyota, hydrogen as an energy source is a central pillar on the road to CO2 neutrality in heavy goods transport, which accounts for a quarter of all European freight transport in terms of tonne-kilometres.

The hydrogen for the project is supplied by Air Liquide, one of the leading providers of clean energy solutions. This co-operation underlines the importance of the parallel development of vehicles and infrastructure in order to install a sustainable hydrogen society. Due to their utilisation patterns and high fuel requirements, commercial vehicles are an important building block in the development of future hydrogen applications.

»We are delighted to be working with Toyota and Air Liquide to test hydrogen solutions for our long-haul logistics,« explains Eric Desbonnets, Vice President Paris 2024 Operations and Sustainability at Coca-Cola. »We will gain important insights from this while continuing to work on reducing our carbon footprint.«

»All companies involved in the test programme are working on concrete solutions in the fight against climate change,« says Erwin Penfornis, Vice President Hydrogen Energy World Business Line at Air Liquide. »This project demonstrates the importance of hydrogen as an energy carrier in heavy-duty mobility. The demand for products with low CO2 emissions is continuously increasing and hydrogen is ideally suited due to its flexible application options.«

»To accelerate the spread of hydrogen technology in our society, we are extending the use of our Toyota fuel cell module beyond passenger cars to trucks, buses, trains, ships and stationary generators,« emphasises Thiebault Paquet, Vice President Research and Development at Toyota Motor Europe. »Working with like-minded partners is a great pleasure and demonstrates our shared vision of sustainable mobility. The knowledge gained here will be of fundamental importance on our way to a CO2-neutral logistics chain by 2040.«