The evolution of Toyota's fuel cell systems

February 10, 2021 | Case Study

Fuel cell system innovation has largely been driven by increased attention to the cell itself. Developers have looked for ways to reduce costs at the cell level by reducing platinum loading in the electrodes or increasing the running time to reduce or eliminate the need for stack replacement in a vehicle's lifetime. However, leading developers have demonstrated that there are also important system-level improvements to consider. Toyota, recognized as a leading developer of fuel cell technologies, has demonstrated this better than most, having managed to increase the performance, decrease the cost, and simplify the configuration of its fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) through a series of engineering upgrades over the past 15 years.