The world's first hydrogen powered sauna makes its debut at the Finnish Rally, with Toyota and Harvia leading the clean energy revolution
On September 2, 2025, Helsinki - During the 2025 Finnish Rally, Toyota and Finnish century old sauna equipment manufacturer Harvia jointly launched the world's first hydrogen powered sauna concept model, marking the sauna industry's official entry into the era of zero carbon emissions. This hydrogen sauna room adopts hydrogen heating technology, only emitting water vapor and hot air, completely subverting the traditional electric heating or wood burning heating mode, and becoming the most eye-catching technological focus of this competition.
The collision of clean energy and cultural heritage
Finland, as the birthplace of global sauna culture, has approximately 3.3 million sauna rooms and ranks first in the world in terms of per capita ownership. Toyota Chairman Akio Toyoda said at a press conference, "This cooperation stems from respect for the long-term trust of the Finnish community and is also an extension of Toyota's' environmental priority 'philosophy. Hydrogen technology not only perfectly matches the high-temperature environment of saunas, but also responds to global carbon neutrality goals through zero emissions characteristics
Harvia's chief engineer revealed that the hydrogen fuel cell system in the sauna can raise the indoor temperature to 80 ℃ within 10 minutes, reducing energy consumption by 40% compared to traditional electric heating, and there are no pollutant emissions during operation. At present, the technology has passed the EU CE certification and is expected to be piloted for commercial use in high-end resort hotels in Northern Europe by 2026.
Industry impact: coexistence of technological barriers and market opportunities
According to market research firm QYResearch, the global sauna equipment market is expected to exceed 1.2 billion US dollars by 2030, with the proportion of clean energy technologies expected to jump from the current 5% to 30%. However, the promotion of hydrogen saunas still faces challenges: high storage and transportation costs for hydrogen, initial equipment investment 2.3 times that of traditional saunas, and the need for a professional maintenance team.
In response, Toyota and Harvia announced the establishment of a joint laboratory, planning to reduce the cost of hydrogen sauna rooms to within 1.5 times that of traditional products by 2027, and develop miniaturized hydrogen fuel cells suitable for household scenarios. Industry insiders point out that this move may reshape the global sauna equipment supply chain and drive traditional wood suppliers such as Canadian cedar and Finnish pine to transform into the composite materials field.