Isuzu and Honda Testing Fuel Cell Truck in Japan

In late December, Isuzu Motors and Honda began demonstration-testing their jointly developed Giga Fuel Cell system on public roads in Japan.

The Giga Fuel Cell is an Isuzu heavy-duty truck that has been reconfigured to be powered by a fuel cell system developed by both Isuzu and Honda.

Through this demonstration testing, scheduled to run through September, the two OEMs will collect data and identify technical issues on fuel-cell-powered trucks. The prototype model being used for this demonstration testing is the same type of truck exhibited at the Isuzu Group booth at the Japan Mobility Show 2023.

The companies plan to launch a commercially available fuel cell truck in 2027.

In a joint statement, Isuzu and Honda said they believe that fuel cell technology will be effective to achieve carbon neutrality of heavy-duty trucks.

The two OEMs signed an agreement in January 2020 to conduct joint research on fuel cell-powered heavy-duty trucks. Since then, the two companies have been working on the verification of the compatibility of the fuel cell system and heavy-duty trucks and the establishment of a foundation for basic technologies such as vehicle control technologies.