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Many electric vehicles are powered by hydrogen fuel cells. They are favored by many as unlike traditional battery electric vehicles, hydrogen fuel cell vehicles generate electricity through a chemical reaction between hydrogen and oxygen, producing only water vapor as a byproduct. Hydrogen tanks are engineered to store hydrogen gas at extremely high pressures, enabling vehicles to achieve long driving ranges and fast refueling times.
However, hydrogen tanks, like any high-pressure storage system, have the potential to explode under certain conditions. Recently, combatants in Ukraine exploited this vulnerability to their advantage, creating a remote-controlled miniature hydrogen bomb to be used against Russian forces, made in part out of the hydrogen tank of a Toyota Mirai electric vehicle.
Reports indicate that Ukrainian combatants have been repurposing components from various vehicles to create improvised suicide drones and remote-controlled explosive devices. For example, batteries and motors have been salvaged from old Teslas to be used in these morbid DIY projects. Due to the challenges posed by electronic countermeasures against aerial drones, the Ukrainians shifted to using ground-based vehicles for deploying explosives.
One notable device was constructed from the hydrogen fuel cell of a Toyota Mirai, according to Interesting Engineering. This tank, weighing about 115 pounds, can hold over 12 pounds of hydrogen at a pressure of 10,000 pounds per square inch, equivalent to the pressure found 22,500 feet underwater. With a high potential energy content of 33.6 Wh/kg, the hydrogen in the tank provides the energy equivalent to roughly 357 pounds of TNT.
The bomb was mounted on a robotically controlled vehicle that traveled along a hidden pathway toward what is speculated to be a Russian ammunition storage warehouse. When it detonated, there was a massive explosion with a mushroom cloud and fire was created.
