Lexus created a hydrogen engine buggy with barely any range and it’s one of the wildest cars you’ll ever see
- This is the Lexus ROV H2 buggy powered by hydrogen
- The Japanese concept is a collaboration with Yamaha
- But despite its wild approach, it has some major flaws
Published on Mar 09, 2025 at 9:08 AM (UTC+4)
by Jack Marsh
Last updated on Mar 06, 2025 at 12:17 PM (UTC+4)
Edited by
Tom Wood
We’ve seen hydrogen engine supercars become a phenomenon for the high-end manufacturers, but Lexus is getting playful with the new tech and its off-road buggy is one of the wildest cars you’ll ever see.
Hydrogen engines are becoming increasingly prominent as the world searches for a greener future.
But only a handful of hydrogen engines are being placed inside everyday cars, rather opting to have the long-lasting and powerful technology placed inside of hypercars for racing.
That is until Lexus decided to have some fun with the ROV H2 buggy.
VISIT SBX CARS – View live supercar auctions powered by Supercar Blondie
The Lexus ROV H2 is wild
Buggys are a lot of fun.
Fast Sand Cars like the Extreme Double Throw Down are a joy to watch, while even bigger off-roaders are hilarious in the hands of racing stars like Max Verstappen.
Lexus, however, has made one of these makeshift car skeleton off-road vehicles with a hydrogen engine heart and its one of the wildest concepts we’ve seen.
The Lexus ROV H2 concept is a collaboration between its owner Toyota and its legendary Japanese friends over at Yamaha.
The Yamaha YXZ1000R model serves as the basis for Lexus, which, in turn, swapped out the 998cc three-cylinder monster for an even bigger beast in a Hydrogen engine boasting all kinds of disastrous power.
It also looks absolutely incredible.
Usually, hydrogen engines push more power to cars as a chemical reaction with oxygen creates a mass amount of electricity in a more efficient manner than any other power source.
For example, Alpine’s 730hp Hy6 hypercar is capable of 300mph speeds and produces nothing but clean water as its emissions.
Toyota has tried to harness this with the ROV H2 and even its revolutionary line of hydrogen-powered cars.
However, this concept might actually be more entertaining to the eye than it is to drive…
Hydrogen engine bogs this concept buggy down
Despite having this incredible piece of machinery running the buggy, it is actually much slower than the Yamaha version.
It loses 32hp from its Yamaha counterpart, resulting in a 62mph maximum (down from 93mph), and it weighs an extra 70kg despite having no fuel.
Oh, and it only lasts 11 miles.
Yes, you read that correctly, the hydrogen engine only powers this wild buggy for 11 whole miles!
Imagine the fun you could have in that relatively short distance, though.
Of course, hydrogen engines only take seconds to refill with quick inflation, and they are incredibly greener given the zero emissions, but the range of this creation leaves a lot to be desired.
Hydrogen engines are touted as the future for cars by many optimists, one day superseding EVs, but in the meantime, there’s much work to be done.
Currently, there are some hydrogen-powered cars on the roads. For example, the Hyundai Nexo, Toyota Mirai, and Honda CR-V all use these engines.
But one expert previously revealed that the Hyundai Nexo, for example, costs $227 to fill up a tank for a 350-mile range costing roughly 50 times more than the current crop of electric cars.
For the Lexus ROV H2 though, the concept is being worked on to improve its speed and range, and the Japanese subsidiary of Toyota will still be having a lot of fun taking this expensive toy for a spin.
DISCOVER SBX CARS: The global premium car auction platform powered by Supercar Blondie
