TOYOTA

Toyota Motor Europe and VDL Groep (VDL) in the emission-free hydrogen truck market in Europe

Toyota Motor Europe (TME) has joined forces with the Netherlands' VDL Groep (VDL) to enter the market for zero-emission hydrogen high-tonnage trucks in Europe using Toyota's fuel cell technology. The collaboration aims to accelerate the decarbonisation of the road logistics sector, a key factor in implementing TME's 2040 fully carbon neutral strategy.

The company sees great potential in using hydrogen trucks to decarbonize its logistics routes. The lighter weight of hydrogen-based systems allows for heavier loads, while quicker refueling is essential for high-utilization transport. Hydrogen can be refueled just as quickly as diesel, and truck usage patterns, with a demand for greater volumes of hydrogen, make their key contribution to the development of sustainable infrastructure around key routes.

Hans Bekkers, Commercial Director of VDL Special Vehicles, said: “VDL Special Vehicles believes in an emission-free future for heavy and medium vehicles, as well as off-road vehicles. Therefore, we are extremely proud to collaborate with Toyota Motor Europe on this innovative technological project, which will allow us to expand our activities around hydrogen”.

VDL Groep will manufacture the first fuel cell truck for the European summer of 2023, which will be followed by the production of more vehicles, whose use will be evaluated on TME's logistics routes in the autumn of 2023. fuel cell trucks, which will underpin the company's long-term vision to decarbonize logistics and reduce Toyota's carbon footprint beyond the electrification of passenger cars.

Leon Van Der Merwe, Vice President of Supply Chain at Toyota Motor Europe, stated: “We are very excited to launch this project with VDL Groep, as it will allow us to further decarbonize the long distance transport of our components, vehicles and spare parts. High-tonnage trucks will continue to be an important pillar of our multimodal strategy, and the introduction of emission-free trucks equipped with Toyota's fuel cell modules will have a major impact on the overall carbon reduction of our logistics operations."

Fuel cell trucks also play a key role in the growth of Europe's hydrogen ecosystem as a whole, which is the basis for the decarbonisation of transport and a green energy transition. Large-tonnage vehicles are essential to generate healthy levels of hydrogen supply and demand.

The profitability of the system will stimulate the development of a sustainable infrastructure, and will allow the emergence of new mobility applications. The necessary infrastructure for these trucks can serve other hydrogen vehicles, which can use the same refueling stations.

This new truck project is one of many that Toyota has recently launched together with several partners, in areas such as light commercial vehicles, watercraft, trains and buses, aimed at accelerating the transition to a hydrogen economy.

Autonews