Toyota Motor Corp. views hydrogen as one of the key building blocks on the road toward carbon neutrality, using fuel-cell technology for mobility and in the wider economy beyond transport. The OEM’s advanced fuel-cell technology is already integrated into passenger cars, buses, trucks, trains, marine, and stationary applications for a range of business customers and other OEMs.

The company is taking a multi-pronged approach to advancing hydrogen and fuel-cell technologies in its pursuit of “Mobility for All” to create safer, more connected, inclusive, and sustainable mobility to achieve its mission of producing “Happiness for All.”

In Europe, Toyota Motor Europe launched the Kinto mobility brand, which offers a range of mobility services in 20 countries, and is growing its business-to-business sales of fuel-cell products and engineering support. Contributing to the UN Sustainable Development Goals, Toyota is working to achieve carbon neutrality in its entire business across Europe by 2040.

To meet growing demand in the region, TME started producing its second-generation compact fuel-cell modules in Europe in 2022.

In July of this year, Toyota announced it had joined the Volvo Group and Daimler Truck as an equal partner in Cellcentric, a leading developer and manufacturer of fuel cell systems for heavy-duty commercial applications. Through collaboration with industry associations and partners across the hydrogen value chain, the partners aimed to actively support the development of hydrogen supply and infrastructure and unlock the hydrogen ecosystem.

This week, Toyota strengthened elements of its strategy in commercial vehicles, adding to recent deals announced earlier in the month.

 

Scaling hydrogen commercial vehicles across Europe

At the 2026 IAA Transportation event for commercial vehicles held this week in Hanover, Germany, Toyota unveiled its plans with Volvo Group and Daimler Truck along with Bosch, Air Liquide, TotalEnergies, TEAL Mobility, and MB Energy to accelerate the rollout of hydrogen-powered vehicles across Europe.

Toyota says that scaling these solutions across the continent calls for aligned support from national governments and the European Commission to ensure long-term energy resilience and competitiveness. For the first time in Europe, the German ecosystem has put in place all the conditions for a scalable deployment of hydrogen trucks by 2030, building on the German deployment model as a practical baseline.

Rooted in the shared conviction that hydrogen is an important complement to BEVs (battery-electric vehicles) in achieving the EU’s decarbonization targets, industry leaders are joining forces to overcome historical bottlenecks, particularly for truck operations requiring long range, high payload capacity, rapid refueling and operational flexibility.

Daimler Truck customers have driven almost 600,000 km (373,000 mi) with fuel-cell trucks. As the next step, the company plans to deploy a small series of 100 next-generation trucks into customer operations from the end of 2026 onwards. In parallel, the first hydrogen combustion engine trucks are being prepared for market launch next year.

Volvo Group is similarly advancing its hydrogen portfolio and investing significant amounts into hydrogen power solutions such as fuel-cell and hydrogen-combustion trucks for market rollout toward 2030. Toyota will participate as a technology partner, leveraging more than 30 years of fuel-cell development and supply. Bosch is supplying key vehicle components for gaseous hydrogen—with its fuel-cell system proven over more than 30 million km on the road—alongside refueling technologies for both liquid and gaseous hydrogen.

On the energy and infrastructure side, Volvo Group and Daimler Truck are cooperating with energy companies and hydrogen suppliers, such as Air Liquide, TotalEnergies, and MB Energy, and retail operators like MB Energy and TEAL Mobility, the latter a 50/50 joint venture between TotalEnergies and Air Liquide.

These companies are mobilizing their respective capacities to scale both liquid and gaseous hydrogen supply chains. Through their infrastructure investments, they are advancing toward high-throughput stations able to refuel up to 100 trucks per day. They are also leveraging synergies with the fast-growing industrial renewable hydrogen production, driven by the implementation of the European Renewable Energy Directive III.

Reaching competitive costs with diesel is said to be essential for fleet operators to adopt hydrogen. Crucially, combining German government policies with industrial collaboration makes this possible through three key levers: lowering truck cost through incentives and series production, reaching diesel-competitive hydrogen pump price through a more competitive hydrogen supply chain and greenhouse gas quota mechanisms, and offering operating incentives like zero-emission toll exemptions for fleet operators.

Toyota says the market is looking up for hydrogen. Recent applications under Germany’s NOW funding program were oversubscribed, with over 70 high-capacity stations and 800 heavy-duty trucks applied for by industrial companies, confirming strong commercial pull from the logistics sector.

While Germany serves as the operational launchpad, demonstrating how industry action and targeted public support can accelerate market development, the industry leaders are calling for strategic measures—supported by national governments and the European Commission—to replicate this model at a continental scale. These measures include scaling infrastructure through synchronized funding calls for refueling stations and vehicles to meet Alternative Fuels Infrastructure Regulation targets; strengthening the commercial viability of hydrogen through pragmatic, harmonized renewable fuel credit mechanisms and toll incentives; and jointly de-risking the overall value chain, from production and liquefaction to final distribution and vehicle operation.

The combination of industrial execution and a strong policy framework provides the foundation needed to scale zero-emission freight while reinforcing Europe’s industrial competitiveness, energy resilience and employment, and reducing emissions from freight transport.

 

Iveco and Scania collaborations

Last week, Toyota and Iveco announced a collaboration under EMPOWER, the EU-funded Horizon Europe project dedicated to advancing zero-emission heavy-duty transport. Toyota contributes its most advanced fuel-cell technology, and Iveco leads the overall vehicle development, integration, and validation activities. The new FCEVs are said to represent a major technological leap, delivering significant improvements across key performance indicators compared with Iveco’s first-generation fuel-cell trucks deployed as part of the H2Haul project.

Powered by Toyota fuel-cell systems with a total output of 300 kW, the Iveco S-eWay Fuel Cell combines increased performance with improved efficiency, extending driving range beyond 900 km (559 mi) while significantly enhancing durability to more than 25,000 operating hours. In parallel, vehicle weight has been reduced, and the overall architecture has been simplified through a more efficient energy management strategy, requiring only half the battery capacity of the previous generation.

“Hydrogen is a key enabler of the future energy and mobility ecosystem,” said Marco Liccardo, Chief Technology & Digital Officer, Iveco Group. “By joining forces with Toyota through EMPOWER, we are investing in a long-term vision for heavy-duty transport, one that combines sustainability, energy resilience, and operational performance.

The improvements are said to bring fuel-cell technology closer to the operational, economic, and durability requirements of large-scale commercial transport. They align with the latest progress from Toyota on fuel cells, which is increasingly focused on meeting the demanding requirements of commercial vehicle applications through higher reliability, improved efficiency, and extended operational life.

“The transition to zero-emission freight requires technologies that can meet the realities of commercial transport,” said Shinichi Yasui, Executive Vice President, R&D, Toyota Motor Europe. “For high-mileage, heavy-duty operations, hydrogen fuel-cell technology offers strong potential by combining range, uptime, and efficiency.”

Validation and testing activities are scheduled to begin in the fourth quarter of this year. The project aims to demonstrate the technology under demanding real-world operating conditions, with on-road trials planned to start in the first half of 2027. The insights gained from these activities will contribute to the development of commercially viable hydrogen-powered solutions for long-haul and heavy-duty transport applications, serving as a pilot platform for a future industrial scale-up.

Just prior to the Iveco deal, Toyota announced a partnership to supply fuel-cell systems for 40 heavy-duty vehicles through Scania’s Pilot Partner program for customers to evaluate a range of sustainable transport technologies, including hydrogen fuel-cell systems, under real operating conditions. The initiative is expected to deliver confirmation of technical performance, operational efficiency, and total cost of ownership.

“Through our Pilot Partner program, we work with selected customers to test new technologies in actual use cases, learn from their experience and develop our solutions further,” said Sara Forsberg, Chief Technology Officer, Scania. “This collaboration will give us valuable insights into the opportunities and challenges associated with hydrogen fuel-cell technology in heavy-duty transport.”

By integrating Toyota’s hydrogen fuel-cell technology into this framework, the partnership will evaluate how fuel-cell electric trucks can support demanding heavy-duty transport operations. The vehicles will be equipped with Toyota’s latest third-generation fuel-cell system, which delivers 300 kW of power in a compact design for heavy-duty applications and a range of other use cases.

“We believe heavy-duty transport is key to building hydrogen demand and infrastructure,” said Hiroki Nakajima, Executive Vice President, Toyota Motor Corp. “Furthermore, we believe hydrogen is the right solution for demanding heavy-duty applications, where long range, high utilization, and operational efficiency are essential.”

The first Scania hydrogen fuel-cell electric trucks will start operating during the first quarter of 2027.

 

Third-generation fuel-cell system

In 2014, Toyota launched the Mirai FCEV and has sold about 30,000 units across more than 30 countries and territories. Since 2019, the company began supplying fuel-cell systems for use in other applications, such as buses, railroads, and stationary power generators, supplying about 3000 units to more than 100 customers globally. In Japan, Toyota works with many partners, particularly in the Tokyo and Fukushima prefectures, to implement these systems in the commercial sector and help create “a hydrogen society.”

In terms of infrastructure, Toyota’s long-term vision is to establish 700 bar (70 MPa) as a standard for fuel-cell electric vehicles and products.

In February 2025, Toyota announced at the International Hydrogen & Fuel Cell Expo in Tokyo that it had developed its third-generation fuel-cell system designed to meet the needs of the commercial sector with the same durability as conventional diesel-powered engines. Additionally, the new system features significant improvements in performance, including fuel efficiency and a significant reduction in costs compared to the prior version.

The main advancements of the latest fuel-cell system include improvements in durability, up to two times that of the prior generation, achieving durability comparable to diesel engines and a maintenance-free design. Improvements in fuel efficiency of 1.2 times that of the prior generation allow for a 20% greater cruising range. Significant cost reductions resulted from innovations in cell design and manufacturing processes.