At the end of this month, in the Port of Los Angeles, Toyota is planning to test trucks powered by hydrogen. Driving fully loaded for 300 km per day should test whether the trucks are up to the job.

Hydrogen technology is not new to Toyota. The Japanese car manufacturer has already fitted its Mirai hydrogen car with a fuel cell that converts hydrogen to electricity for the electric motor.

The truck uses the same fuel cells, but gets two of them, plus a small battery of 12 kWh for loading and unloading. The power of the truck is 670 hp (500 kW), with an estimated range of 320 km and a cargo capacity of 36 tons, Toyota stated last week in a press release.

The hydrogen truck has already been trialled extensively on test tracks, but Toyota wants to know how it performs under normal working conditions. That means transporting cargo from the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach to nearby railway stations and warehouses. The intention is that the truck will transport its cargo for around 300 km per day.

The trial is part of the Toyota Portal project which was launched in the spring to test the use of fuel cells in heavy-duty transport.

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