Toyota: 560 miles in 12 minutes at future hydrogen stations

Hubs studied with some major European partners will allow faster H2 'fills' for trucks and vans

Photo by: Toyota

By: Alberto Carmone

Feb 2, 2025 at 2:30am ET

Comment

Toyota continues to believe in hydrogen for cars and heavy-duty transport. This is demonstrated by an agreement to launch a new generation of refuelling systems that will make stops at the pump even quicker and more efficient.

A new impetus has been given to this refuelling by the agreement between Toyota Motor Europe, Hydrogen Refuelling Solutions (HRS) and ENGIE.

Rapid refuelling for trucks and vans

Funded by the European Union through the Clean Hydrogen Partnership, the RHeaDHy (Refuelling Heavy Duty with very High Flow Hydrogen) project will focus on the development of high-performance refuelling stations capable of refuelling 700 bar hydrogen trucks with 100 kg of hydrogen in 10 minutes. Testing will begin in the fourth quarter of 2025, with the aim of accelerating the transition to more sustainable freight transport.

Toyota explains that the new Twin Mid Flow technology with which these stations will be equipped will allow heavy vehicles to refuel in less than 10 minutes and light vehicles in less than 5 minutes. In practice, a 40-tonne truck will be able to refuel for 600 km (373 miles) in 8 minutes and for 900 km (560 miles) in 12 minutes.

As well as increasing speed, the company says the new solution will significantly reduce the cost of installing refuelling stations, helping to meet the EU target. The EU's Alternative Fuels Infrastructure Regulation requires publicly accessible hydrogen refuelling stations to be installed every 200 km along major European roads by 2030.

A strategic alliance

Toyota will provide a test bed and a truck equipped with Twin Mid Flow technology to test the new refuelling solutions. Hydrogen Refueling Solutions (HRS) - a leading manufacturer of high-capacity hydrogen refuelling stations - will develop the next generation dispensers using its expertise in manufacturing modular and scalable stations at its industrial facility in Grenoble, France.

Finally, ENGIE - a giant in the low-carbon energy sector - will provide its expertise through ENGIE Lab CRIGEN, its hydrogen research and innovation centre, which is coordinating the RHeaDHy project.