Toyota shows off its latest big idea for cold hydrogen vehicles

Toyota is pushing hydrogen-powered conveyance exertion guardant with a liquid hydrogen strategy plan that includes a self-pressurizer to prevention escaping state and reuse it arsenic substance to summation motor efficiency.

Toyota introduced a liquid strategy successful the GR Corolla H2 Concept successful 2023, which keeps hydrogen astatine -253 degrees Celsius during filling and storing successful the tank. Hydrogen exists arsenic a state astatine country temperature, truthful the pumps person to run acold to forestall the liquid from boiling. Inherently, the strategy inactive has boil-off state that gets wasted.

So what’s the solution? Toyota exhibited a “self-pressurizer” astatine the Super Taikyu Series 2024 contention this past play that “uses the unit of the boil-off state to summation unit by 2 to 4 times and nutrient reusable substance without utilizing immoderate further energy.” It past hopes to provender immoderate further boil-off to a tiny substance compartment bundle to powerfulness the hydrogen pump centrifugal for further efficiency.

Liquid nitrogen vehicles are a overmuch much technically grueling matter for some retention and strategy configuration. “Hydrogen pumps are the astir nonaccomplishment prone components successful each hydrogen systems — cryogenic oregon gaseous,” writes Washington State University prof Dr. Jacob Leachman successful an email to The Verge. “What Toyota seems to person cleverly done is make a hydrogen pump that harnesses portion of the acold vigor for compression purposes — an beforehand needed by anyone processing acold hydrogen vehicles.”

Leachman, who heads the university’s Hydrogen Properties For Energy Research (HYPER) Laboratory, said different situation is that sealing a instrumentality of liquid nitrogen and letting it boil volition summation its unit to “over 140 Megapascals (20,000 psi).”