Today’s Telegraph business section. Re Toyota25 Apr 2021 12:48
The infrastructure to support hydrogen may not yet exist, but the push into renewables may mean it one day overtakes electricity for certain types of vehicles, the type that need to be able to refuel fast.
If there was any doubt of Toyota’s support for hydrogen, the company’s announcement last week that it is testing an engine which burns the gas, rather than convert it into electricity, in a racing car was evidence enough. The car will compete in one of the toughest forms of motorsport, 24-hour endurance racing, possibly in a nod to Toyota boss and keen racing driver Akio Toyoda’s belief in hydrogen.
As global car companies battle the transition to electrification, maybe Toyota sees something others do not.
“On hydrogen Toyota may well prove to be right and it’s playing a long game,” notes one insider. “For a long time they got it right with the Prius hybrid before regulation changed. Who is to say they might not get it right on this?”