The grilling season has officially started and Toyota believes it has the answer to the decades-old “charcoal vs. propane” debate: None of the above. The brand partnered with an appliance company called Rinnai to build what it calls the world’s first hydrogen-fired brick oven. And because not everyone has a job like pizza chef Somewhere on their resume it said they also built a small barbecue that ran on hydrogen.
Even for Rinnai, a Japanese brand that celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2020, making a hydrogen stove was easier said than done. There’s nothing else like it on the market, so there are no safety standards to use as a guideline. So Toyota turned to a partner: It knows how to make hydrogen cars that don’t explode, and Rinnai knows how to make ovens and stoves that don’t explode.
The oven is equipped with technology derived from the Miraiincluding the system used to provide delivery and supervision hydrogen. It also relies on the same type of control system that Rinnai puts in its ovens. Exactly how it works isn’t detailed, but Toyota notes that hydrogen, which has a high combustion temperature, combines with oxygen to produce steam as it burns. Visually, the brick oven looks like a regular pizza oven, with a dome, a chimney and a semicircular slot for the pizza to fit into. It’s on wheels, so it can be moved if necessary.
Toyota employees have tested the oven by making pizzas and croissants, but the brand has not yet published the recipe for the dough.
Toyota claims that cooking with hydrogen makes food taste better. “Take mushrooms and vegetables, for example. While these ingredients tend to dry out on a wood or charcoal grill, hydrogen cooks them faster, making them burst with moisture and delicious flavors.”
In addition to better-cooked portobello mushrooms, Toyota hopes you’ll buy a hydrogen car after grilling on a hydrogen grill. In the Japanese company’s words, “making hydrogen feel part of everyday life is a crucial first step toward creating a hydrogen society.”
There’s no word on whether Toyota and Rinnai will bring their hydrogen-powered brick oven to market, or if it will remain in the prototype phase (much to the delight of the workers assigned to the project). As for the grill, the company has already started working on it motorsport events such as the WRC Rally Challenge is a program launched in 2015 to prepare young, aspiring drivers for rally racing.