Toyota Chairman Akio Toyoda, resplendent in a fire-resistant racing uniform, was all smiles as he prepared to buzz around the circuit in the hydrogen-fuelled Corolla.“This is a world first for a liquid hydrogen car to race. We hope it will offer another option in the fight against global warming. To bring everyone smiles, I want to go one lap, even one second, more,” said Toyoda, a former CEO of Toyota, grandson of the automaker’s founder and a licensed race driver himself.
Japanese automaker Toyota Motor Corp., which sells about 10 million vehicles a year, has fallen behind in the global shift to battery-powered EVs, but it’s been banking on hydrogen as a potentially carbon-neutral solution for years. Auto racing has been moving to leave its growling gas-guzzlers behind. Toyota rival Honda Motor Co. recently said it’s returning to Formula One racing, saying new regulations are an opportunity for research on new technologies. Other automakers, including General Motors Co., have made similar commitments.
Toyota Chief Executive Koji Sato said he hoped to make an announcement soon about Toyota’s participation in Le Mans. The hydrogen used for Toyota’s race car is made at a coal gasification plant in Australia and is delivered by Iwatani Corp., a Japanese energy company, as part of a Japanese government-backed project to promote use of hydrogen for a variety of industries, including those using fossil fuels.
Hydrogen leaked from a pipe loosened by the vehicle’s vibrations and a leak sensor worked properly, shutting off the hydrogen in less than a tenth of a second. No one was hurt, the cabin was protected, and the fire was contained, according to Toyota.