Truck & Off-Highway Engineering – June 2019

TRUCK & OFF-HIGHWAY ENGINEERING June 2019 33

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Toyota’s proven fuel-cell stack reduces cost, complexity in H 2 semi-truck

spent 20 years getting the Mirai to pro-

duction. We do not have 20 years for

this truck project. The market is waiting.”

Yokoo has worked on powertrains at

Toyota for years, including hybrid, plug-

in hybrid and hydrogen. The easiest way

he saw to power a semi using hydrogen

was to use the existing fuel-cell stack. 

The latest iteration of Toyota’s

hydrogen-powered Class 8 semi—shown pulling a

Mirai-laden trailer—debuted on Earth Day at the Port of Los Angeles.

Hydrogen proponents likely know that

Mirai means “future” in Japanese, but

Toyota is only just beginning to explore

how important the fuel cell stack in its

H 2 -powered passenger car will be to the

future of the company. 

Toyota debuted the third iteration of its

hydrogen-powered, Class 8 semi-truck on

Earth Day at the Port of Los Angeles as

part of the Zero and Near-Zero Emissions

Freight Facilities Project (ZANZEFF) run

by the California Air Resources Board

(CARB). Using a Kenworth T680 Class 8

model as a starting point, this truck was

developed in partnership with Kenworth

and replaces the original diesel engines

that displaced either 12.9 L or 10.8 L, with

two solid polymer electrolyte fuel-cell

stacks that are exactly like the one used

in each Mirai. 

Using Mirai stacks solved two engi-

neering problems, said Takehito Yokoo,

senior executive engineer for Toyota

Motor Engineering & Manufacturing

North America. First, it allowed the

original hydrogen semi project to get

going quickly, which was important to

Yokoo and his team of three when they

started three years ago. 

“The new alternative powertrain has

to be here now,” Yokoo said. “Toyota

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