Toyota hydrogen trucks arrive in California
Toyota hydrogen trucks are now hauling freight in California under a new deal with Hyroad Energy, a company built from trucks left over after Nikola trucking company went bankrupt. Hyroad Energy and Toyota announced the agreement on May 4, 2026, at a trucking industry trade show in Las Vegas. Under the deal, Hyroad will run 40 hydrogen fuel cell Class 8 trucks for Toyota in Southern California. Class 8 is the heaviest category of highway truck, the kind that pulls a full size trailer. A hydrogen fuel cell truck makes its own electricity from hydrogen instead of plugging into a charger.
How the trucks and the fuel line up
Hyroad supplies the trucks, their upkeep and the software. Toyota supplies the hydrogen, through a fueling station it is building at its parts distribution campus in Ontario, California. Each truck can carry up to 70 kilograms of hydrogen, enough to match about 12 of the hydrogen loads that fit in a Toyota Mirai passenger car. A refuel takes 15 to 20 minutes, and a full tank lasts about 500 miles, Hyroad states in the announcement. The Ontario station is expected to open in early 2027, Trucking Dive reports, and it is planned to serve outside hydrogen trucking customers too, not only the trucks running for Toyota.
Accelerating the hydrogen economy requires collaboration, and Toyota is proud to work with Hyroad to move the heavy duty sector forward.
Jason Zahorik, general manager, Toyota Hydrogen Solutions. Source 1.
Hyroad turns leftover Nikola trucks into work
Hyroad built its fleet by buying 117 hydrogen fuel cell trucks, spare parts, software and other assets out of the Nikola bankruptcy auction in August 2025, Hyroad states. The 40 trucks committed to Toyota are well under half that fleet. Subtracting the 40 committed to Toyota from the 117 total Hyroad acquired leaves 77 trucks still doing other work, a figure neither company states directly but that follows from the 2 counts Hyroad itself gives.
The 117 total and the 40 committed to Toyota are both figures Hyroad states in its own release. The 77 figure is a MAOWCE calculation, 117 minus 40, not a number Hyroad states directly.
Show the numbers
| Total acquired | 117 |
| Committed to Toyota | 40 |
| Other fleet work | 77 |
Toyota has done exactly what great allies do, they've brought genuine hydrogen expertise to the table and made thoughtful, strategic decisions.
Dmitry Serov, founder and chief executive officer, Hyroad Energy. Source 1.
California is building the hydrogen truck network around it
The new Ontario station joins a state hydrogen truck network still mostly under construction. California counted 14 medium and heavy duty hydrogen stations operating as of its most recent report, with 35 more planned, the California Energy Commission and California Air Resources Board state in a joint filing under Assembly Bill 126. The same filing sets an overall target of 129 hydrogen stations statewide by 2030, and states that at least 8 of those are expected to be able to fuel medium or heavy duty trucks, a detail that sits inside the filing itself rather than in any company release. The 40 trucks running for Toyota and the 1 new station add to a buildout already under way. They do not replace it.
Both figures come from a joint agency report the state issued on Assembly Bill 126, data as of November 2024. The planned count is more than double the number operating today.
Show the numbers
| Operating now | 14 |
| Planned | 35 |