As South Africa looks to bolster its green hydrogen economy, Toyota South Africa Motors (TSAM) is pursuing commercialisation as the next step in the company’s hydrogen mobility journey.

This was noted during the first day of the nineteenth International Energy Agency Technology Collaboration Programme on Advanced Fuel Cells Task 30 Electrolysis Workshop, which is being held this week in South Africa, hosted by North West University professor Dmitri Bessarabov.

Delivering one of the keynotes on the day was TSAM new-energy business development senior manager Anton Smalberger, with his presentation titled the “Adoption of Hydrogen Mobility in South Africa by Toyota”.

He explained that the company’s hydrogen journey began in 2020, when it collaborated with Sasol on a Toyota Mirai fuel cell electric vehicle (FCEV).

Now, the next step is commercialisation, with this constituting several aspects, Smalberger indicated.

The company is pursuing building a hydrogen ecosystem with Sasol and other relevant stakeholders, with the goal of getting to a point where the products it is working on can be delivered to the market, he explained.

The company believes the future should constitute total value-packaged solutions, that is, providing both fuelling infrastructure, as well as the fleet, for customers.

Smalberger posited that this approach was working in Europe and should, therefore, be adopted in South Africa, as hydrogen mobility failed in places that did not follow suit.

He explained that there would be a mix of vehicles in the future, ranging from internal combustion energy vehicles to battery electric vehicles, FCEVs and hybrids, depending on the type of transport and the requirements.

What is key is for there to be an “eco-cluster”, with fleets and infrastructure working together, he emphasised.

Such partnerships have worked in Europe, and Toyota is pursuing this in South Africa with multi-fuel producer Sasol, by testing various fuels for potential use in its vehicles.

Smalberger mentioned that as the technology for FCEV improves, the costs would come down, making it a viable competitor for commercialisation.