Toyota establishes North American hydrogen business headquarters in Los Angeles

LOS ANGELES — Toyota Motor North America has established a North American headquarters for its hydrogen vehicle business near the massive Los Angeles and Long Beach port complex, the automaker said Wednesday.

Formerly a research center, the redesigned Gardena, Calif., complex will host R&D, commercialization planning and sales teams for hydrogen-related products and technologies.

"Toyota has developed hydrogen fuel cell electric solutions for more than three decades, and we will continue to advance this scalable, zero-emission technology as part of our electrified portfolio," Ted Ogawa, CEO of Toyota Motor North America, said in a statement.

The automaker plans to call the complex its North American Hydrogen Headquarters, or H2HQ.

Last year, Toyota Motor Corp. established what it calls its Hydrogen Factory in Japan to head efforts to commercialize the technology there. It opened a complementary Hydrogen Factory in Europe to oversee the business in that continent.

The North American headquarters will lead hydrogen initiatives across sectors, including passenger cars, heavy-duty trucks, stationary fuel cell power generation and port vehicle applications.

The automaker has used fuel cell technology developed for its Mirai car to find other applications, such as trucks. It has conducted much of the work across several research centers in the U.S.

Toyota has used the Southern California port complex to test fuel cell trucks in a partnership with Paccar, the Kenworth and Peterbilt truck brand owner. Toyota has an agreement to provide Paccar with fuel cell stacks built at a Toyota factory in Kentucky.

Kenworth is offering the fuel cell-powered electric drivetrain in its T680 truck. The tractor, according to Kenworth, has a range of up to 450 miles, depending upon driving conditions, and 415 hp to pull a gross weight of up to 82,000 pounds.

The freight and logistics industry is looking at fuel cell trucks as zero-emission alternatives to diesel rigs for long-haul trucking. They have refueling times similar to those of their diesel counterparts and avoid the weight penalty that would come with the batteries in an electric truck required to travel long distances.

The Gardena facility already has an inventory of equipment Toyota plans to use as it develops various types of hydrogen power technology. The site has the largest dynamometer in the Toyota family. It also features a scalable test bench for stationary applications and a hydrogen fueling station capable of providing fuel for both light- and heavy-duty vehicles.

Toyota said it is working on several projects but did not provide details.

In addition to fuel cell research, Toyota has pursued hydrogen combustion engine technology. Since 2021, Toyota Chairman Akio Toyoda has cited hydrogen combustion as one route to achieving carbon neutrality. Japan's biggest automaker has developed hydrogen-burning engines, deploying them in race cars.

Other manufacturers exploring hydrogen combustion include Honda Motor Co., Suzuki Motor Corp., Kawasaki Motors, Yamaha Motor Co., Volvo Group and Daimler Truck.

California regulators viewed Toyota's announcement as validation of their strategy to replace combustion engine vehicles with those that have no tailpipe emissions.

"California has ambitious goals to achieve clean air, carbon neutrality and a vibrant economy. Toyota's investment to expand their research and development of hydrogen fuel cell technology in our state is an example of the innovation that will accelerate the development and deployment of zero-emissions transportation options, particularly as we decarbonize the goods movement sector," Liane Randolph, chair of the California Air Resources Board, said in a statement.

The new facility is just a few miles from Toyota's former North American headquarters in Torrance. The company moved to Plano, Texas, in 2017.