Is this Hydrogen-burning Toyota GR Yaris the future of sports cars?

Is this Hydrogen-burning Toyota GR Yaris the future of sports cars?

At the Kenshiki Forum in Belgium, Toyota has showcased a hydrogen-powered Toyota GR Yaris, a concept study that promises the same acoustic and sensory sensations typical of a combustion engine.

Hydrogen-powered and acoustic and sensational? “How does that happen?”, you may ask. Well, instead of using hydrogen to generate electricity (Hydrogen fuel cell), this Toyota GR Yaris burns hydrogen fuel in a modified-version of its original 1.6-litre turbo engine (G16E-GTS).

Why use hydrogen to generate electricity when you can simply burn it?

It shares the same powerplant as the hydrogen-burning Toyota Corolla hatchback that competes in the Super Taikyu race series in Japan. Its power performance figures are not officially mentioned.

The same hydrogen-burning 1.6-L 3-cylinder turbo engine is used in the Toyota Corolla competing in the Super Taikyu race series

According to Toyota says hydrogen burns at a faster rate than petroleum gasoline and this results in good responsiveness whilst delivering excellent environmental performance. It looks like Toyota is headstrong on not fully relying on electric cars to power a sustainable future.

Another manufacturer that has used hydrogen-burning powertrains is BMW as showcased in the BMW Hydrogen 7 and the BMW H2R, both powered by hydrogen-burning V12 engines.

Arif Chan
With a deep interest and relevant experiences in the automotive industry, Arif writes about everything automotive. His employment history includes being an automotive engineer, a highway engineer, an alternative-fuel researcher, and a motoring journalist.