Toyota Says Hydrogen Fuel is Suitable for Trucks in Indonesia

KatadataOTO – Toyota is also supporting the government's commitment to achieving the NZE (Net Zero Emission) target through the use of environmentally friendly vehicle products.

It should be noted that Toyota currently has a multi-pathway strategy that focuses not only on BEVs (Battery Electric Vehicles) but also on hybrid cars and environmentally friendly engines or flexy engine, which can use alternative fuels.

Besides BEVs and HEVs, there are also hydrogen vehicles. According to Toyota, hydrogen is suitable for implementation in large vehicles such as trucks.

“We are considering converting trucks, as they are most suitable for FCEV (Fuel Cell Electric Vehicle). We can collaborate with Pertamina and others,” said Nandi Juliyanto, President Director of PT TMMIN (Toyota Motor Manufacturing Indonesia) in Karawang, on Tuesday (11/2).

Photo : KatadataOTO

As an initial step, Toyota has officially built a hydrogen refueling station in their factory area in Karawang, West Java.

The facility will be used for Toyota's Mirai and forklifts. In addition, a number of certified and trained personnel are also being developed to support the operational infrastructure of hydrogen vehicles.

However, when it comes to mass implementation, Nandi emphasized that it still requires time and public education.

“Education is necessary. The experience in several countries is five to six years, hopefully the infrastructure will be complete by then,” he asserted.

For your information, hydrogen-fueled trucks are claimed to be more efficient than electric trucks as an alternative for large, environmentally friendly vehicles. Considering the significant emissions produced by trucks.

When it comes to electric trucks, there are still many obstacles. If used as high-mobility logistics vehicles, charging their batteries takes a considerable amount of time and adds to the truck's operating hours.

Meanwhile, with hydrogen, the refueling time is similar to filling up with fuel (BBM) in a conventional truck, ranging from only four to five minutes.

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According to the Clean Air Task Force, electric trucks need to stop more frequently on their journeys due to limited range.

Furthermore, hydrogen trucks are not equipped with large batteries, so they do not reduce cargo capacity, especially for logistics vehicles. 

The batteries in hydrogen trucks tend to be small, typically with a capacity of around 20 kWh, and only supply power in certain conditions such as acceleration and providing extra power when going uphill.