Toyota announces together with Subaru, Mazda, Yamaha and Kawasaki to work in all areas towards a future for the internal combustion engine. Hydrogen as a fuel plays a major role in this, as does biodiesel.
In Japan, some car manufacturers are not convinced that the switch to fully electric driving is the only right choice for the near future. Toyota made this very concrete last week. It states that not everyone worldwide will be able to switch to electric driving by 2040. Reason for the company – like many other major players – not to sign a promise about phasing out the fuel engine. Toyota and some other Japanese car and motorcycle manufacturers are now backing this vision by announcing that there will be a greater focus on alternative fuels.
Toyota, Subaru, Mazda, Kawasaki and Yamaha have issued a joint statement explaining the plans. There are three main points. Point 1 is ‘racing with CO2-neutral fuels’. Mazda is working on further development of the 1.5 SkyActiv-D diesel engine in Japanese racing to prepare it for the next generation of biodiesel. Toyota and Subaru are joining forces to race next year in the so-called ‘Taikyu Series’ with synthetic fuels from biomass.
Point 2 is that Kawasaki and Yamaha will work together on combustion engines that run on hydrogen. These must then come in both motorcycles and ‘recreational vehicles’ such as quads. Lexus recently showed something similar, in the form of the ROV. That is an off-road buggy with the 1.6-liter three-cylinder from Toyota that runs on hydrogen as a power source.
The third main point is ‘racing with hydrogen engines’. Toyota and Yamaha will flesh that out by expanding their ongoing efforts in this area. Toyota is already racing a hydrogen-powered Corolla in Japan’s Super Taikyu Race series and plans to do so more often. Toyota’s motorsports development arm Denso, together with Yamaha, will further develop the hydrogen engine for racing, with the aim of getting more and more performance out of it. Ultimately, the advances made with this engine should lead to further possible applications for street use.
Alternative to electric
Toyota indicates that the use of hydrogen as a fuel and the further development of bio- and synthetic fuels are necessary to offer an alternative to electric driving. “Through further cooperation in the production, transport and use of fuel and combustion engines, the five companies aim to offer customers a wider choice.” This is in line with Toyota’s statement not to sign the pledge made in Glasgow. Toyota pointed out that in many regions, such as Asia, Latin America and Africa, it is likely that by 2040 the infrastructure will not yet be available to use electric and hydrogen cars.
– Thanks for information from Autoweek.nl