It’s easy to get fatigued by alternative-energy restomods. The thought of taking a beloved enthusiast car and transforming it to ensure continued enjoyment for hundreds of more miles is very enticing, but also very unattainable. That’s why I find cars like the AE86 H2 and EV concepts that Toyota just revealed for the Tokyo Auto Salon so bittersweet. There’s a silver lining to these experiments though: you might just be able to drive them one day.
That’s not to say they’ll be affordable, but Toyota is working toward an admirable goal here. Both the Sprinter Trueno hydrogen and Corolla Levin EV concepts seek to preserve the character of their original drivetrains. That’s admittedly a bit easier for the Trueno, as it keeps its original 4A-GE four-cylinder, only it’s now fed by two hydrogen storage tanks sourced from a Mirai.