Toyota Answers Hydrogen Car Safety Question With a Handgun

There’s nothing that activates the inner car enthusiast in all of us like hearing the words “hydrogen fuel cell vehicle.” Well, that might not be true. What you probably will find more exciting is something along the lines of “Toyota shoots up hydrogen car with a variety of small arms and .50 caliber machine guns, just to prove a point.” You see? Magic.

That’s exactly what Toyota engineers–or should we call them gunmen? Assault experts?–recently did to the hydrogen tank it puts into its fuel cell vehicles. A hydrogen tank is a highly pressurized container because, let’s face it, it has to house hydrogen most commonly extracted from natural gas. Before you get all weird about safety concerns, let’s remember that we all drive every day with fuel tanks housing gasoline.

Toyota’s suggestion that they point an assortment of weapons and firearms at this highly pressurized container and go full-Rambo made many of us say, “Wait a minute. Isn’t this the company that makes the Prius?’ That’s exactly the point, says senior VP at Toyota USA, Bob Carter.

Ten years from now, I have a hunch our fuel cell vehicle will be viewed in similar terms. We truly believe it has the same potential as the first Prius.

What the Prius didn’t have to do was introduce a brand-new technology to consumers. After all, everyone knows what batteries are–we’ve been using flashlights since we were kids. But no one grows up with hydrogen fuel cells, except that one kid at the science fair, so it’s a much harder sell.

That’s why Toyota knew they had to insert a little drama, and a lot of bullets. After all of the smaller caliber rounds merely bounced off the hydrogen tank, Toyota pulled out the big guns, for the first time ever literally, by pointing a .50-caliber weapon at the hydrogen tank.

The .50-caliber is what’s mounted on top of U.S. Army humvees. You might also recognize it as the weapon that gave serious trouble to Tony Stark’s rudimentary Iron Man suit in the caves of whatever nameless mountainous region he was held captive in. Yeah. That’s the weapon.

And make an impact it did. According to our friend Bob, the .50-cal did penetrate the hydrogen tank. And what happened after the exposed tank was shot up and finally pierced through with live ammunition?

Some hydrogen leaked out.

Why didn’t it explode in a massive fireball? Though flammable like gasoline and natural gas, hydrogen gas rises much quicker than the two, preventing any lingering for ignition. Gasoline has a much lower concentration threshold than hydrogen for an explosion, which means it’s generally less explosive.

There’s a whole lot of science behind it, but we’re inclined to follow Toyota’s lead, and focus on the facts: Toyota’s hydrogen tanks are safe enough to withstand gunfire. Can your gas tank say that?