This Hydrogen Fuelled Toyota Corolla Sounds Badass!

As we move into the era of mass adoption of battery electric vehicles, the purists among us lament the death of the exhaust note. I am among one of you but today Toyota presents us with a hydrogen-fuelled (read clean fuel) Corolla that has a nice bassy rumble! Rejoice! 

Speaking of exhaust notes, did you know that the Porsche Taycan comes with a feature called the 'Electric Sport Sound'. It is an option that buyers can opt for especially those who need that something extra, that something more aural.

The Taycan is a thoroughbred sports car, through and through. There is no doubt about its credentials but it does lack that audio presence. That electric whine is quite anti-climatic but when you're going that fast, does it even matter? That's for you to ponder. 

For a certain section of the affluent population Porsche provides the 'Electric Sport Sound' feature that adds a bit more of a rumble to that EV whine. To create that pretense of something more common, the illusion of a howling flat-six or the high-revving symphony of a V8, even if it's only for the driver and passengers inside the car. 

The above just goes to prove that even Porsche understands how important the sound of an exhaust note is, especially given their heritage. Remember the Porsche Carrera GT?

In the spirit of clean driving and a notable exhaust note, we bring you the wizards from the land of The Rising Sun. Toyota has managed to marry a combustion engine running on hydrogen, producing only water as a byproduct yet with an exhaust note that has us excited for future updates! 

So take a moment, put your headphones on, crank up the volume and listen to the sound of a hydrogen-fuelled Toyota Corolla. Ain't it something?!

This work-in-progress prototype runs on a 1.6-litre turbocharged three-cylinder engine, deriving its juice from renewable energy produced at the Fukushima Hydrogen Energy Research Field. 

According to test driver, Hiroaki Ishiura, "It's not as different (from a regular petrol-powered vehicle) as I had expected. It feels like a normal engine. (If I wasn't informed) I'd probably think that this is one normal engine."

This particular Corolla Sport will also be tested at a 24-hour endurance race as part of the Super Taikyu Series. This is all obviously very interesting news for fans of the Corolla as only a few days ago we wrote about the possibility of a GR Corolla with AWD, a 300PS version of GR Yaris' three-cylinder engine.