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Toyota and IVECO to develop next-generation hydrogen fuel cell truck under EU-backed EMPOWER project
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Toyota and IVECO to develop next-generation hydrogen fuel cell truck under EU-backed EMPOWER project

By Heavy-shift 3 min read
Toyota and IVECO to develop next-generation hydrogen fuel cell truck under EU-backed EMPOWER project
Toyota and IVECO to develop next-generation hydrogen fuel cell truck under EU-backed EMPOWER project

Toyota and IVECO to develop next-generation hydrogen fuel cell truck under EU-backed EMPOWER project

Toyota and IVECO have announced a new collaboration under EMPOWER, an EU-funded Horizon Europe project dedicated to advancing zero-emission heavy-duty transport. The agreement, announced jointly from Brussels and Turin on 10 September 2026, will put Toyota's third-generation fuel cell system into IVECO's next-generation fuel cell electric trucks, with the Italian manufacturer leading vehicle development, integration and validation.

The vehicle, based on the IVECO S-eWay Fuel Cell, will use Toyota fuel cell systems with a combined output of 300 kW. IVECO says the driving range extends beyond 900 kilometres on a full load of hydrogen, while the fuel cell system is designed for more than 25,000 operating hours. That durability figure matters as much as the range: heavy-duty fleets measure trucks in uptime, and 25,000 hours corresponds to years of daily long-haul operation before a major overhaul.

Toyota and IVECO also claim significant gains in packaging. Vehicle weight has been reduced and the overall architecture simplified through a more efficient energy management strategy, requiring only half the battery capacity of the previous generation. The fuel cell system itself is described as far less complex than earlier iterations — the direction Toyota has been pushing across more than three decades of fuel cell development.

The new trucks represent a step change from IVECO's first-generation fuel cell vehicles deployed under the H2Haul project, a European demonstration programme that put early hydrogen trucks into real fleets and returned operational data. IVECO says those insights are feeding directly into the maturity, efficiency and scalability of the new vehicle.

"Hydrogen is a key enabler of the future energy and mobility ecosystem," said Marco Liccardo, chief technology and digital officer at Iveco Group. He framed the project as a long-term bet: "By joining forces with Toyota through EMPOWER, we are investing in a long-term vision for heavy-duty transport, one that combines sustainability, energy resilience and operational performance."

Shinichi Yasui, executive vice president of R&D at Toyota Motor Europe, said the technology is aimed at the hardest part of the freight task: "For high-mileage, heavy-duty operations, hydrogen fuel cell technology offers strong potential by combining range, uptime and efficiency. By working together with IVECO, we aim to demonstrate how Toyota's third-generation fuel cell system can help customers move towards zero-tailpipe emission logistics without compromising operational needs."

Validation and testing are scheduled to begin in the fourth quarter of 2026, with on-road trials planned for the first half of 2027. Toyota told H2 View that the trials involve three trucks; the duration of the collaboration has not been disclosed. The stated aim is to establish a pilot platform for a future industrial scale-up.

EMPOWER is funded under Horizon Europe with a budget of around €18 million, targeting long-haul and regional freight — the segments where battery-electric trucks still struggle most with payload and charging time. The project sits alongside the Scania partnership Toyota announced on 7 September, which covers 40 trucks, and underlines how quickly the Japanese company's fuel cell hardware is spreading across Europe's truck makers.

Not everyone is convinced hydrogen trucking will clear the economic bar. High vehicle and fuel costs and the round-trip energy losses of hydrogen remain the central objections raised by critics, who argue battery-electric trucks win on efficiency wherever the duty cycle allows. EMPOWER's real-world trials should provide at least part of the answer.

Sources

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