Toyota to operate 40 Nikola hydrogen trucks in California under Hyroad deal

Toyota will use 40 Nikola hydrogen fuel cell trucks across Southern California under a vehicle supply, maintenance, and support agreement with coordinator Hyroad Energy.

The Class 8 commercial trucks, made by now bankrupt Nikola Corporation, will be operated across Southern California and will use hydrogen from Toyota’s own refuelling infrastructure in the state.

While a timeline for deployment remains undisclosed, it comes as one of the first major deals for Hyroad under its as-a-service model, which offers vehicle sourcing, incentive organisation, and vehicle maintenance.

Hydrogen for heavy-duty mobility in the US remains nascent, with high vehicle cost and limited infrastructure representing bottlenecks to widespread adoption.

Hyroad CEO, Dmitry Serov, claimed, “When fuelling, vehicles, software, and operational commitment all come together, hydrogen trucking works.”

Under the pay-per-mile model, Hyroad aims to deploy 250 trucks across Texas and California by 2027.

As part of the plans, it acquired 117 Nikola fuel cell trucks from the firm’s bankruptcy auction in 2025. It currently operates maintenance facilities in both states.

To support deployments, it’s also supporting the development of refuelling stations.

It’s developing a station with Bosch Rexroth and GenH2 in Dallas, which will integrate technology designed to eliminate boil-off losses from liquid hydrogen. The firm is also working with Total Hydrogen Solutions to launch a with on-site production capacity.

Serov previously told H2 View that by organising the core components – trucks, refuelling, and maintenance – for customers, the company could deploy hydrogen trucks at a scale that “the market hasn’t really seen before.”

However, with just 117 trucks in its fleet today, the company has stressed deployment from other vehicle makers will be critical to making the system work.