While Japan is at the top of the medal ranking as we write these lines, Hydrogen Today was invited to visit the Mobility Park and Toyota House. It was an opportunity to talk to the man who has been preparing the deployment of Toyota’s solutions for the Paris Games for the last 5 years. 

The meeting was made possible thanks to Toyota Motor Europe. It is with his smartphone in hand and an earphone that Cedric Borremans came to meet us at the Mobility Park, which is set up next to the Bir Hakeim metro station. This Belgian, who joined Toyota 20 years ago, has been in charge of preparations for the Paris 2024 Olympics since 2019. Quite a challenge. 

Cedric Borremans went to Japan to immerse himself in the experience of the parent company in Tokyo, then moved to Paris (where he had already stayed once before, when working for Toyota France), where he has been in an uninterrupted contact with the Paris 2024 organising committee. He admits that the decision to deploy electric and hydrogen-powered vehicles initially caused some reluctance, because of the constraints associated with refuelling. But the group genuinely wanted to show the diversity of solutions for decarbonising mobility. 

A cargo bike with hydrogen cartridges

Everyone has in mind the 500 Mirai, as well as buses and trucks. But there are other uses for hydrogen too. At the Mobility Park, for instance, there are Pragma bicycles and a recharging station installed by H2Gremm. Right at the park entrance, there is a cargo bike carrying hydrogen capsules. Approved to 350 bars, these capsules can be used to generate cold, for example to keep a cool box running. Toyota is also thinking of other uses, such as supplying electricity in the event of a disaster, or emergency refuelling if there is no nearby station for a scooter or car.

While the solutions presented at Mobility Park mainly concern battery-powered electric vehicles, with the help of partners, Toyota House provides an opportunity to communicate more about hydrogen. Small scale mock-ups bring together everything that the group wanted to showcase regarding hydrogen, from the Mirai to Energy Observer, not forgetting buses. ‘Everything fits on a single photo, which would be more complicated to do in real life,’ smiles Cedric Borremans.

The site, which will welcome 7,000 guests during the games, is a showroom and conference room at the same time. With the added bonus of an exceptional rooftop overlooking the Seine and facing the Eiffel Tower.

Outdoor demos in Dreux

There is one regret, however. The Finx Motors boat, which is presented inside in the form of a mock-up and on a screen, was unable to integrate its fuel cell in time. This is all the more unfortunate given that it was this boat that carried Rafael Nadal, Carl Lewis, Nadia Comaneci and Serena Williams with the Olympic flame during the opening ceremony. ‘We only found out about it a few days beforehand,’ says Cedric Borremans. He hopes that the fuel cell will arrive on board the Imagine boat during the Games. In the meantime, there is also Energy Observer and Chloé Zaied’s boat Hynova in Marseille.

Toyota has also invited us to the Dreux circuit, in Eure-et-Loir. This is where the brand will be presenting a number of vehicles, including hydrogen-powered competition models. We will talk more about it soon enough.

Do you want to learn more about Toyota? Then our latest articles about the company should interest you. You can access all our articles written about Toyota here.

Article written by Laurent Meillaud and translated by Logan King