Toyota Motor Corporation plans to join Volvo Group and Daimler Truck in fuel-cell joint venture Cellcentric, Volvo said on Tuesday.
Daimler and Volvo have sought to join forces in making hydrogen fuel cells in an effort to cut costs, as some truckmakers and their suppliers rework combustion engines to run on less polluting low-emission hydrogen.
Toyota plans to join Volvo and Daimler Truck as an equal shareholder in the venture. The companies signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding and plan to reach a legally binding agreement.
Their objective is to develop, produce and commercialise fuel cell systems for heavy-duty vehicles.
Toyota and Cellcentric will jointly manage the development and production of fuel cell unit cells and directly linked architecture and control elements.
“The partners aim to actively support the development of hydrogen supply and infrastructure in the early stages,” Volvo said.
Performance of hydrogen trucks is similar to that of diesel vehicles, but they produce zero exhaustpipe emissions because their electric motors are powered by electricity generated by the electrolysis of hydrogen and oxygen within the fuel cell.
Volvo will begin customer tests with trucks using hydrogen in combustion engines in 2026, and they will be commercially available towards the end of this decade.
The Mercedes-Benz NextGenH2 Truck is set to be deployed from the end of 2026 as part of a limited small-series production of 100 vehicles.
Toyota is deploying hydrogen trucks in Europe (built by VDL Groep) for logistics. It has also partnered with Hino to develop heavy-duty fuel cell trucks with a range of up to 600km. -- Business Day, with Reuters
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