Can the internal combustion engine live on if powered by hydrogen as a fuel source? Toyota thinks there is potential that it can and at last weekend’s Goodwood Festival of Speed, it brought along the hydrogen-powered GR Yaris it first previewed in December 2021 and at one stage, handed the keys over to beloved British actor and motor enthusiast, Rowan Atkinson.
When you think about a hydrogen-powered car, you’ll most likely think of something like the Toyota Mirai which uses a hydrogen fuel cell to produce electricity and drive an electric motor. However, this special GR Yaris is quite different as it retains the same 1.6-liter turbocharged three-cylinder as any other one you’ll see on the street.
Read: This Experimental Toyota GR Yaris’ 3-Cylinder Engine Runs On Hydrogen
The main difference is that the fuel supply, injection system, and engine management system of the car have been altered to burn hydrogen fuel. Toyota hasn’t said if it hopes to eventually build production cars like this in the future but has been open about its belief that using hydrogen as a fuel could be one way to keep the ICE alive in motorsport.
In addition to having the chance to drive the special prototype, Atkinson revealed that he owns a regular GR Yaris, describing it as an “extraordinary little pocket rocket.”
The car manufacturer has been working on hydrogen-fuelled race cars for a few years now and is pioneering most of its efforts through its modified GR Corolla. Most recently, Toyota equipped its GR Corolla prototype with a new liquid hydrogen system, rather than gaseous hydrogen. Liquid hydrogen is more energy dense than a gas but a key challenge of using it is that keeping hydrogen in a liquid state requires it to be cooled at -253°C (-423 °F) during refueling and storage.