Toyota has premiered an unconventional take on the Corolla Cross, bundling the crossover with a 1.6-liter turbocharged combustion engine working on hydrogen gas. It is still a concept at this point, but the carmaker plans to begin testing it in northern Japan soon to see how well its components perform at lower temperatures.
The detailed technical specifications aren’t here yet, but Toyota had tried out a hydrogen drivetrain like this one on its racecars earlier this season. In the end, the engineering team was able to increase the power output by 24%, the torque by 33% and the range by 30%. It also optimized the refueling process, getting the waiting time down from 5 minutes to 3 and a half.
It remains open whether a car like this will ever reach the mass market. Toyota itself says it has walked around 40 percent of the way towards commercializing the tech so far.