Toyota Shows ‘An Engine Reborn’ with Green Fuel Despite Global Push for Battery Electric Cars

May 29, 2024

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by Yuri Kageyama (Associated Press) “An engine reborn.” That’s how Japanese automaker Toyota introduced plans to cast a futuristic spin on the traditional internal combustion engine.

During a three-hour presentation at a Tokyo hall Tuesday, the car manufacturer giant announced it would offer lean compact engines that also run on so-called green fuels like hydrogen and bioethanol, or get paired with zero-emissions electric motors in hybrids.

This comes as many competitors in the auto industry are pushing for fully electric vehicles. China is revving its push for Battery Electric Vehicles, and its own BYD is threatening to outshine Tesla in that push.

Toyota’s Chief Executive Koji Sato said the “engine is optimized for the electrification era” with hopes of helping push the world into “carbon neutrality.”

Toyota already has a well-known hybrid car — the Prius — with a gas engine and an electric motor. It switches between the two to deliver a cleaner drive.

In future hybrids, the electric motor is set to become the main driving power, and the new engine will be designed to take a lesser role and help it along, according to Toyota.

Domestic allies Subaru Corp. and Mazda Motor Corp., both preparing ecological engines designed to meet the inevitably upcoming stringent emissions standards, joined Toyota ‘s presentation billed as a “multi-pathway workshop.”

“Each company wants to win, but we can be faster if we work together,” said Sato.

But details on when the engines were coming to market weren’t disclosed.

The legacy of the car engine could be felt everywhere.

Mazda said that its prized rotary engine, introduced more than 50 years ago, was being adapted for electric vehicles.

Subaru, meanwhile, showcased its trademark smaller horizontally opposed engine. While Chief Technology Officer Tetsuro Fujinuki confirmed the company was working on a great “Subaru-like” electric vehicle, he said the company wasn’t about to dump the engine altogether.

Toyota, too, is working on stylish BEVs.

The executives said Tuesday that energy supply conditions differed globally, adding that products had to meet various customer needs and the investments needed for mass-producing BEVS were enormous.

Toyota officials also repeatedly noted that 5.5 million jobs were at stake in the overall supply chain for vehicle production in Japan nowadays, so a sudden shift to electric cars wasn’t economically possible or socially responsible.

Takahiro Fujimoto, a professor of business at Waseda University, believes electric vehicles are a key solution for reducing emissions. But they still have weak points, such as large amounts of emissions produced while making lithium-ion batteries, a chief component.

In Japan, for instance, commuters use trains, so that may be a better ecological choice for transportation, Fujimoto said.

“At the very least, I believe the proliferation of and innovations in BEVs are definitely needed. But that argument is logically not the same as saying that all we need are BEVs,” he said.

Uncertainties remain, spanning research and development, as well as social, political and market conditions, said Fujimoto.

“The carbon neutrality the world is aspiring toward isn’t likely attainable for decades to come. It’s going to be a long marathon race,” he said. READ MORE

Related articles

Subaru, Toyota, and Mazda Commit to New Engine Development for the Electrification Era, Toward Carbon Neutrality (Toyota; includes VIDEO)
Toyota showcases compact engines adaptable to different fuels (Reuters)
Japan announces world’s first green fuel: this engine shatters hydrogen and EVs (Ecoticias)
Toyota's Green Fuel Engine Revolution in Japan: Transforming Mobility Beyond EVs (AdvanceH2)
Toyota Maps Out When Its ICE Age Will End in America -- Models powered entirely by internal combustion engines will soon be a minority of sales, and the automaker is plotting their demise. (Bloomberg)

Excerpt from Toyota: Subaru Corporation (Subaru), Toyota Motor Corporation (Toyota), and Mazda Motor Corporation (Mazda) have each committed to developing new engines tailored to electrification and the pursuit of carbon neutrality. With these engines, each of the three companies will aim to optimize integration with motors, batteries, and other electric drive units. While transforming vehicle packaging with more compact engines, these efforts will also decarbonize ICEs by making them compatible with various carbon-neutral (CN) fuels*1.

Subaru, Toyota, and Mazda have always been driven by a deep understanding of their customers' diverse lifestyles. This understanding has led the three companies to develop signature engines*2 that not only represent their respective brands but also cater to their customers' unique needs and preferences.

In pursuing decarbonization, all three companies have focused on carbon as the enemy and sought to expand options by acting with passion and purpose. This mindset has driven efforts to ensure a future for the supply chains and jobs that underpin engines. Under the extreme conditions of racing, the companies have worked to broaden powertrain and fuel options by competing with vehicles running on liquid hydrogen and CN fuels.

This process has clarified the role that future engines will play in achieving carbon neutrality. With the next generation of engines, the three companies will seek to not only improve standalone engine performance but also optimize their integration with electric drive units, harnessing the advantages of each.

While being highly efficient and powerful, the new engines will also revolutionize vehicle packaging by being more compact than existing models. Smaller engines will allow for even lower hoods, improving design possibilities and aerodynamic performance while contributing to better fuel efficiency. The development will also emphasize compliance with increasingly strict emissions regulations.

At the same time, the new engines will be made carbon neutral by shifting away from fossil fuels and offering compatibility with various alternatives, including e-fuel (synthetic fuel), biofuels, and liquid hydrogen. In doing so, these engines will contribute to the broader adoption of CN fuels.

Upon this announcement, the CEOs of the three companies made the following comments:
"Achieving a carbon-neutral society is a challenge that must be undertaken by all of Japan's industries and society as a whole. As we continue to refine electrification technology, we will also enhance our horizontally-opposed engines with an aim to use carbon-neutral fuels in the future. Moving forward, the three companies sharing the same aspiration will continue to advance the pursuit of sustainable excellence in Japanese car manufacturing."
(Atsushi Osaki, Representative Director, President and CEO, Subaru Corporation)

"In order to provide our customers with diverse options to achieve carbon neutrality, it is necessary to take on the challenge of evolving engines that are in tune with the energy environment of the future. The three companies, which share the same aspirations, will refine engine technologies through friendly competition."
(Koji Sato, President, Member of the Board of Directors and CEO, Toyota Motor Corporation)

"We will continue to offer customers exciting cars by honing internal combustion engines for the electrification era and expanding the multi-pathway possibilities for achieving carbon neutrality. Given the rotary engine's compatibility with electrification and carbon-neutral fuels, Mazda will continue to develop the technology through co-creation and competition to ensure it can contribute broadly to society."
(Masahiro Moro, Representative Director, President and CEO, Mazda Motor Corporation)

Even as Subaru, Toyota, and Mazda compete in the product arena with unique engines and cars, the companies have a shared dedication to achieving carbon neutrality through a multi-pathway approach. Together with like-minded partners similarly skilled and passionate about engines, they will work to create the future of Japan's auto industry.

Subaru website: https://www.subaru.co.jp/news-en/2024_05_28_112205

Mazda website: https://newsroom.mazda.com/en/publicity/release/2024/202405/240528a.html

READ MORE

Excerpt from Bloomberg: In the US, Toyota’s electrified vehicles — hybrids, plug-in hybrids, fuel cell and battery-electric models — are on the verge of outnumbering its autos powered entirely by internal combustion engines.

...

But (Elon) Musk was dead wrong when he declared two years ago that it was time to move on from hybrids, calling them a phase. Millions of car buyers are deciding otherwise, leading Toyota to transition some of its best-selling vehicles to hybrid-only.

It’s only a matter of time until Toyota customers will be able to pick any powertrain of their choosing, so long as it’s at least a hybrid.

“In the US, there is a decision being made now — and I’m not a part of it — as to whether to stop making pure ICE for the US market,” Gill Pratt, Toyota’s chief scientist, told me in an interview. “Just the fact that we’re thinking of that means that, OK, it must be close.”

...

Toyota is moving full-throttle to open a massive $13.9 billion battery factory in North Carolina that will supply cells both to fully electric and hybrids, Pratt told me. He’s encouraged that spot prices of battery raw materials have been falling, alleviating what has far and away been automakers’ biggest concern with respect to EV input costs. And he’s downright effusive about renewable power, lauding the progress being made in solar, wind, nuclear and geothermal energy generation.

Pratt dismisses criticism of synthetic fuels and biofuels on the grounds that they’re inefficient to produce. Yes, direct electrification is far more efficient, but he expects there to be an excess of renewable energy available that could be used to make low-carbon liquid fuels.

Assuming those fuels could be pumped into the roughly 1.25 billion cars on Earth — the vast majority of which aren’t electric, and won’t be for decades — presents an underappreciated opportunity to dramatically lower CO2 emissions.

“What I’m trying to emphasize in my talks now is please, please, please, we all want the same thing, but let’s stop the wishful thinking,” Pratt said. “Let’s think about what really is going to occur, what human nature is like, what politics is like, the capital that folks don’t have to change their cars, and let’s find a way that accepts the reality of all those things, and let’s change what we actually can change.” READ MORE