Toyota Corolla Cross H2 Concept: burning hydrogen instead of petrol

Basically there are two types of hydrogen cars: those that use a fuel cell that works with this element to produce electricity on board, which powers the electric motor that drives the wheels, and those that directly “burn” hydrogen in a conventional combustion engine. Toyota is pursuing both routes, as it has been demonstrating in recent years.

Among the first group, the ones running on a fuel cell, is the Toyota Mirai, which, together with the Hyundai Nexo, are the only two cars on sale today that use a hydrogen fuel cell. Furthermore, among many other projects, the Japanese brand has just announced that it continues to advance in this field, with proposals as interesting as the hydrogen Toyota Hilux. But Toyota also sees a future in using hydrogen as a fuel in cars with combustion engines. Recently we saw a prototype of a GR Yaris that runs directly on hydrogen, and the Japanese brand has taken part in endurance races in Japan with a GR Corolla H2, also with hydrogen combustion. But Toyota has not stopped there, and it continues to develop this technology.

Corolla Cross H2 hydrogen: with 1.6 Turbo 3-cylinder engine

According to Toyota, its latest advances with hydrogen combustion engines have made it possible to increase the power of combustion of this element by 24%, and the torque by more than 30%, thus bringing performance closer to that of a petrol engine. In addition, range has been increased by around 30%, and refuelling times have gone from roughly five minutes to just a minute and a half.

By integrating this technology into a compact SUV such as the Corolla Cross, the result is the Corolla Cross H2 prototype, which uses the hydrogen storage technology from the fuel-cell Mirai. Its engine is the 1.6 turbo three-cylinder from the GR Corolla, with the modifications needed to inject hydrogen directly at high pressure into the combustion chamber. For now it is a prototype, which retains the five seats of the production version and the ability to carry luggage in the boot, as the hydrogen tanks sit beneath the floor.

For now, Toyota is already carrying out real-world tests to advance the development of hydrogen combustion technology as a solution that makes use of internal combustion engines, offering advantages over electric cars such as quick refuelling, and not requiring batteries whose manufacture relies on scarce elements such as nickel or lithium. According to the brand, the current state of development of this technology stands at 40%, which allows us to suggest that, with this solution, the combustion engine may have much more life ahead of it than many think.

Toyota Corolla Cross Concept – Image gallery