Toyota was recently granted a Zero Emission Powertrain (ZEP) executive order from the California Air Resources Board (CARB) for its new heavy-duty fuel cell electric powertrain. The hydrogen-fueled powertrain kit includes hydrogen fuel storage tanks, fuel cell stacks, batteries, electric motors and transmission.

CARB’s ZEP executive order certifies that a powertrain complies with CARB regulations for zero-emission powertrains determined to meet specific emissions standards required for sale in California. OEMs using Toyota’s certified powertrain may also be eligible for other available incentives, such as CARB’s Hybrid and Zero-Emission Truck and Bus Voucher Incentive Project (HVIP), the Clean Truck Fund (CTF) introduced last year by the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, and certain federal incentives.

Toyota says its efforts with hydrogen-powered heavy-duty truck powertrains started with Project Portal back in 2017. Toyota’s CARB ZEP-certified powertrain kit is now ready for commercialization, with production slated to start for customers later this year at the company’s Kentucky manufacturing plant. This newest generation of powertrain reflects improvements in things like energy efficiency, package size, and more from extensive real-world testing and development from the company’s fuel cell development engineering team, the company says.