Toyota and Hyroad put 40 hydrogen trucks to work in Southern California

On 4 May 2026, at the ACT Expo in Las Vegas, Toyota Motor North America and Hyroad Energy signed a definitive agreement to deploy 40 Class 8 hydrogen fuel cell trucks in Southern California. It is one of the largest commercial hydrogen truck rollouts in the United States — notable mainly for its approach: vehicles, software, maintenance and fuel come together under a single commercial framework.

H3: How the partnership works

The roles are clear:

- Hyroad supplies the trucks plus maintenance, telematics and fleet management software

- Toyota supplies the hydrogen via its own refuelling station, currently under construction in Ontario, California, and expected to open in early 2027

- The trucks will serve Toyota's own logistics operations: moving vehicles from port to dealerships and distributing parts from the North American Parts Center

Hyroad operates as an OEM-agnostic provider and offers its service as "trucks-as-a-service" — fleet operators pay per mile rather than buying the trucks themselves.

H3: The Nikola legacy

Hyroad's foundation is unusual. In August 2025, the company picked up 117 hydrogen fuel cell trucks, plus spare parts, software platforms and IP, at Nikola Corporation's bankruptcy auction — for around 3.85 million dollars. As a result, the trucks now hitting the road are not prototypes, but vehicles with known specifications and an existing parts ecosystem.

H3: What the trucks deliver

The Class 8 fuel cell trucks Toyota and Hyroad are putting into service have what it takes to replace diesel semis on heavy-duty routes:

- Up to 70 kg of onboard hydrogen

- Range of around 500 miles (approximately 800 km) per fill-up

- Refuelling time of 15 to 20 minutes — comparable to diesel

- Only local emission: water vapour

H3: Why it matters

The deal tackles hydrogen trucking's familiar chicken-and-egg problem: fleets won't buy trucks without refuelling stations, and stations need volume to be viable. By bundling fuel, vehicles, maintenance and software, Toyota and Hyroad solve that problem for one concrete logistics chain. For California, with its strict CARB emissions rules, it offers a tangible zero-emission route for heavy-duty road transport. And for the wider hydrogen sector — which faces the same questions in Europe — it provides a workable model.

Sources:

- Toyota USA Newsroom: Toyota Announces Strategic Collaboration with Hyroad (4 May 2026)

- PR Newswire / Hyroad Energy press release (4 May 2026)

- Trucking Dive: Toyota to build a hydrogen fueling station in Southern California

- Gagadget: Toyota and Hyroad to put 40 hydrogen semi-trucks on California roads

- Electric Cars Report: Toyota and Hyroad Deploy 40 Hydrogen Trucks in California