Overview
EARLIER this month, Toyota Australia detailed plans of a prototype hydrogen-fuelled inside combustion engine powered (H2-ICE) HiAce Commuter being examined Down Below as a part of a global pilot program it says will kind one more piece of its decarbonisation puzzle.
Throughout the media unveiling, chosen Australian journalists have been supplied the chance to drive and assess the HiAce Commuter H2 at Toyota Australia’s Autodrome – a brief check monitor as soon as used as a part of a high quality management program for the locally-built Camry.
Utilising a transformed V35A-series 3.5-litre twin-turbocharged V6 (petrol) engine supplied within the HiAce in different markets, the ‘H2’ model is differentiated solely by bespoke injectors and a diesel-like SCR exhaust association with AdBlue injection. Gasoline is saved in a trio of hydrogen tanks set beneath the ground of the car – the identical discovered within the Toyota Mirai FCEV.
The HiAce Commuter H2 runs the identical 10-speed automated transmission as present in different markets (the pairing almost an identical to that of the domestically out there LandCruiser 300 Collection) and drives the rear wheels. Most energy is rated at 120kW (185kW lower than the petrol equal) and 354Nm (-296Nm).
Toyota has but to offer gasoline consumption or emission figures however says the hydrogen powertrain fitted to the HiAce Commuter H2 ends in nearly zero CO2 tailpipe emissions, with the method of igniting hydrogen within the engine producing small quantities of oxides of nitrogen (NOx), that are lowered by the selective catalytic discount system.
Past the driveline, Toyota says the 12-seat HiAce Commuter was chosen for the prototype program for packaging causes, the massive van providing the chance to put in the engine up entrance and the hydrogen tanks below the ground, making certain minimal impression on area and payload.
Given vary limitations of the prototype (restricted to roughly 200km), it’s at the moment finest suited to worksite and shorter back-to-base operations.
Driving Impressions
If it seems like a HiAce Commuter, and seems like a HiAce Commuter, chances are high it’s a HiAce Commuter, proper?
Nicely, nearly.
You see, apart from the billboard-sized vinyl commercial plastered over the prototype mannequin, this HiAce Commuter is hydrogen powered. Not a fuel-cell electrical car sort of hydrogen providing, however an simply transformed, spark ignition combustion engine sort of hydrogen providing that’s far more cost effective to develop and promote.
That time alone is alleged to make this explicit car one that can kind a vital a part of Toyota’s multifaceted method to lowering vehicular emissions. It’s an nearly off-the-shelf resolution which, supplied the infrastructure is accessible, will be offered in nearly any market throughout the globe.
Okay, we could be getting just a little forward of ourselves – this can be a prototype in spite of everything; and one which wants much more energy, torque, and vary whether it is to compete on a stage footing with conventional ICE powered choices.
Beginning the H2-ICE engine sees a momentary delay earlier than the driveline declares itself ‘Prepared’ to be used. The system examine takes about so long as it did to heat a set of glow plugs again within the day, and from thereon within the course of is so simple as hitting the starter, choosing Drive, and setting off.
The driveline is just a little laggy on step off, and slower to construct revs that its petrol equal. Toyota says it would deal with each points over the course of the unit’s improvement however has for now determined to run a considerably pessimistic tune, at the very least till it perfects the know-how.
Working our method across the Autodrome course there may be little in the way in which of suggestions to counsel the HiAce is something apart from a slower model of itself. It’s equally quiet, responds equally to throttle inputs, and maintains a lot the identical transmission shift factors because the petrol unit would (primarily based on impressions in different purposes, after all).
It additionally provides comparable retardation when releasing the throttle, and “cuts again to idle” in a lot the identical method a petroleum engine would. In brief, there’s little or no in addition to the shortage of tempo to determine the operation of the H2-ICE engine from its petrol counterpart.
On the subject of switching the car off, there may be once more a momentary delay. Flip the important thing to Off and the engine runs on for 2 or three seconds, purging any unburnt gasoline from the traces. There isn’t a particular trick right here, and also you don’t want to attend with the automotive – it’s extra an consciousness of distinction than anything.
Below the bonnet the V6 seems a lot the identical because it must, the addition of Hydrogen badging and a few further wires the one discernible distinction. Toyota engineers inform us the wires run to a collection of “sniffers” situated across the manifold and once more on the hydrogen tanks aimed toward discovering any leaks.
Whereas we have been unable to establish any gasoline consumption tally, Toyota’s 200km vary declare – and the lower-than-average engine outputs – appear the one actual sticking level in offering a substitute for fossil fuels.
If hydrogen is sourced in a sustainable method, and refuelling factors made as commonplace as petrol and diesel bowsers, there is no such thing as a cause a H2-ICE mannequin line wouldn’t work a deal with. We’ll watch with curiosity to see simply how rapidly that ultimate piece of the puzzle takes to fit into place.
