Could Toyota Unveil A Hydrogen Scooter In Future?

Back in the early 2000s hydrogen-backed vehicles were considered hot before electric vehicles became a big deal and have continued to be the hottest automotive trend of the last decade. But as if Japanese automaker Toyota has hit a jackpot, they are now patenting a fuel-cell scooter.

As unusual as it may be for Toyota to be associated with two-wheelers, the world's largest car company has set its sight on it. Recently, Toyota filed for a patent around a Suzuki Burgman 400 and features an idea using replaceable, pre-filled hydrogen cannisters instead of going for refuelling of high-pressure gas. Put forth as a green alternative to EVs, that avoids leaving the car at charging stations costing adding to the journey time, hydrogen fuel cannisters can be swapped for new ones instantly.

Though a hydrogen fuel cell patent application was filed by Toyota back in 2011 post the unveiling of a hydrogen cell prototype Suzuki Burgman at Motor show in the same year, the new one has updates especially with the placement of the tank on the scooter.

Hydrogen-powered scooters use hydrogen gas to produce electricity on-board, powering an electric vehicle that can be refilled in 3 to 5 minutes similar to conventional gasoline. In comparison to an EV that can take where between 1 to 4 hours charging times of current BEVs, a hydrogen-backed scooter seems to be a better choice.

Not only that, hydrogen-backed scooters tend to have low to zero emission mobility and provide more energy per unit of weight, meaning lighter, smaller and more efficient powertrain systems compared to a large battery system found in EVs.

Of course, the road to a hydrogen-powered future isn't without its challenges. High production costs, primarily due to expensive fuel cell production, the lack of robust refuelling infrastructure, and technology limitations hinder widespread adoption.

While this isn't necessarily an indication into the autocar maker jumping into the two-wheeler game right away, it highlights Toyota's strong interest in looking at other sustainable alternatives as future technologies. In recent years, other automobile companies including Kawasaki, TVS and Pragma Mobility have also shown keen interest in developing a green alternative to electric vehicles and are looking into hydrogen fuel-cell prototypes.

So, could the future of scooters be hydrogen-powered?