Toyota to Test Fuel-Cell Heavy-Duty Truck in U.S.

New York, April 20 (Jiji Press)--Toyota Motor Corp. <7203> has announced a plan to test its hydrogen fuel-cell system designed for heavy-duty truck use at the Port of Los Angeles from this summer. The leading Japanese automaker said Wednesday it will test whether the system's durability and traveling performance are suitable for port drayage operations. The test will use a truck that generates more than 670 horsepower and has a loading capacity of about 36 tons. Its driving range is 320 kilometers per fill. The company hopes that if the carbon-neutral hydrogen fuel-cell truck is put into use, it will lead to a significant decrease in emissions for cargo transportation. Toyota believes fuel-cell technology has a key role to play in its goal of achieving zero-emissions on the road. It aims to apply the technology to vehicles other than passenger cars. As part of that move, Toyota supplied the Tokyo metropolitan government's Transportation Bureau with fuel-cell buses in February. END