Just lately, Toyota entered a hydrogen-powered GR Corolla within the 24-hour race at Fuji. But it surely wasn’t powered by a hydrogen gas cell such as you see in the Toyota Mirai that makes use of hydrogen to generate the electrical energy that really powers the automobile. As an alternative, it used a liquid hydrogen combustion engine. In idea, it offers you the sound and driving traits that fans love about inside combustion engine vehicles however doesn’t launch any dangerous emissions.

So a liquid hydrogen combustion engine is mainly one of the best of each worlds, proper? All Toyota must do is spend a couple of extra years perfecting the know-how, and the racing world can be saved from the scourge of electrical vehicles which can be too heavy and too quiet. Then, after constructing out the hydrogen fueling infrastructure, it’s solely a matter of time earlier than passenger vehicles are additionally free of their want for large, heavy, costly batteries. Take that, Tesla!

Not essentially. Barring some main and sure miraculous technological breakthroughs, it’s unlikely that liquid hydrogen combustion engines will ever take over racing, a lot much less find yourself on the streets promoting like Camrys and Corollas. And that’s not merely the opinion of some fool Jalopnik author. It’s additionally the opinion of the web’s favourite automobile nerd, Jason Fenske of Engineering Defined fame.

Engineering Defined’s newest video takes a deep dive into the mathematics and science behind Toyota’s liquid hydrogen combustion engine and (spoiler alert!) involves the conclusion that it’s extra of a enjoyable engineering train than one thing that may go mainstream any time quickly, even within the racing world. For instance, as a result of how chilly liquid hydrogen is, engineering a sturdy gas pump is extremely tough. Actually, throughout the Fuji race, Toyota’s workforce needed to substitute the gas pump twice, and every change took about three and a half hours.

Even in case you’re not a racing knowledgeable, you possibly can most likely perceive that spending seven hours of a 24-hour race changing components is lower than best, and if each workforce had to do this, it could make for a a lot much less attention-grabbing race. However that’s an enormous downside, it’s additionally not the one cause to be skeptical of liquid hydrogen combustion engines in racing. For that, you’re going to have to observe the video under if you wish to discover out.