Toyota hydrogen-powered RC car hits the miniature test track

A hydrogen-fuelled radio controlled car has been put to the test on the small stage.

Toyota – in partnership with Bramble Energy and Tamiya – created the 1/10 scale replica of its Mirai hydrogen saloon to showcase the wider applications of fuel-cell technology. It was put to the test in a fittingly compact location – the Old New Inn Model Village in Bouton-on-the-Water, Gloucestershire.

Bramble Energy fitted the scale replica of the Mirai – which was finished in the same Scarlet Flare colour as the full-size car – with a miniature version of its printed circuit board fuel cell system, alongside a control module and hydrogen storage. It’s fitted with two hydrogen fuel canisters which can be switched out, meaning that an empty unit can be quickly replaced for a full one.

David Rogers, Toyota (GB) spokesperson on alternative fuels, said: “In Toyota collaborations across Europe you’ll increasingly see trials of fuel cell-powered buses, trains, boats and, who knows, maybe even homes. We undertook this challenge to have some fun and show what can be done with fuel cells and we think the results are great!”

Providing around 20 watts of power, the hydrogen R/C car can deliver double the running time of a conventional battery-powered version. It’s all fitted into a standard four-wheel-drive remote-control chassis, the same one that can be purchased in shops.

Tom Mason, CEO and co-founder of Bramble Energy, said: “We had to shrink a whole fuel cell system down to the size of an RC car, which gave our engineers a good challenge.

“The biggest hurdle was to make all the system components required to run the fuel cell small and compact enough to fit onto the Tamiya TT02 chassis and inside the Mirai RC car shell.”