Tag Archives: MimboloveHydrogen
Toyota believes that electric vehicles are not necessarily the only way forward and thus it will offer vehicles with many propulsion technologies for the foreseeable future.
“It’s too early to concentrate on one option,” said director Shigeki Terashi at the company’s annual shareholder meeting, per Automotive News. The comment was in response to a question about why the company wasn’t making a bold EV plan like Honda or GM.
Terashi argued that different technologies must be allowed to compete against each other in the marketplace in order to find the solution that best serves it. That’s why Toyota will continue to invest in hybrid and fuel-cell technologies in the years leading up to 2050.
Read Also: Polestar Reveals Climate Impact For Its EVs, Calls For Industry Transparency
“Some people love battery-electric vehicles but others don’t see the current technologies as convenient,” Toyota’s Chief Technology Officer Masahiko Maeda said. “In the end what matters is what customers choose.”
Toyota recently competed in a 24-hour race with a hydrogen-powered Corolla that used a converted combustion engine from a GR Yaris in order to prove that hydrogen engines can be a better, carbon-reduced solution for long distances.
The automaker also pointed to lifecycle emissions, which remain high for EVs, despite their low local emissions. Batteries, in particular, are carbon-intensive to mine and manufacture, though Polestar found that its vehicles gain a carbon advantage over gas-powered vehicles after just 31,000 miles on the road. Another study argued that the cost of producing hydrogen, especially if there was a sudden, intense demand on the supply, could lead to a fossil-fuel backslide.
Toyota recently came under fire from investors for what they felt was an incorrect stance on green technologies and its anti-environmental governmental lobbying efforts. That led to a public recommitment to green technologies.
Indeed, despite its commitment to multiple fuel types, Toyota is actually investing in EVs, like the recently announced bZ4X that it’s making in partnership with Subaru.
New research suggests that electric vehicles are a more efficient solution for powering cars than hydrogen. Moreover, the analysis suggests that the cost of creating hydrogen for cars as well as e-fuels could lead to a deeper dependency on fossil fuels.
Although electric propulsion seems to be taking over the automotive world, automakers like Toyota and Porsche are still making a fuss about hydrogen and e-fuels. These can be put directly into existing engines with little to no modifications and are sometimes seen as a way to save internal combustion.
The trouble is that the energy required to make these fuels is still greater than the energy required to power electric vehicles, per the study published in the Nature Climate Change journal. According to Falko Ueckerdt at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research in Germany, who led the research, that might lead to a backslide.
Read More: Toyota Modifies A GR Yaris Engine To Run On Hydrogen For Endurance Racing
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“Hydrogen-based fuels can be a great clean energy carrier, yet their costs and associated risks are also great,” Ueckerdt told The Guardian. “If we cling to combustion technologies and hope to feed them with hydrogen-based fuels, and these turn out to be too costly and scarce, then we will end up burning further oil and gas.”
That doesn’t mean that there’s no need to explore hydrogen and e-fuels. In fact, for industries like long-haul trucking and long-distance flight, electric power may never be a suitable solution.
Keeping the majority of vehicles and home heating electric may allow these industries to flourish without overtaxing the electrical grid. According to the research, e-fuels require five times more electricity than EVs, so supplying the industry may in fact require a turn back to fossil fuels.
“We are currently far from 100% renewable electricity,” Romain Sacchi, a member of the study team, told The Guardian. “If produced with the current electricity mixes [in Europe], hydrogen-based fuels would increase – not decrease – greenhouse gas emissions, [compared with] using fossil fuels.”
Toyota has confirmed that the second-generation Mirai will premiere in production guise in December.
The Japanese car manufacturer previewed the new fuel cell car at last year’s Tokyo Motor Show with a near production-spec concept. A teaser image shared on the Japanese website for the Mirai confirms the road-going model will look virtually identical to the concept.
The first-generation Mirai is one of the most ungainly curiously-styled vehicles on the market and, while some like the quirky looks, we suspect the styling has had a negative impact on sales. With the second-generation model, Toyota went back to the drawing board and created a sleek four-door sedan that is longer, wider and lower, while also rocking a far more conventional and appealing shape.
Read More: Striking 2021 Toyota Mirai Wants You To Completely Forget About Its Fugly Past
More specifically, the concept was 195.8 inches (4,973 mm) long, 74.2 inches (1,885 mm) wide, and 57.8 inches (1,468 mm) tall while boasting a generous wheelbase of 114.9 inches (2,918 mm).
As the production model will stick true to the exterior design of the concept, it’s fair to presume the interior will do the same. Consequently, it will include a digital instrument cluster, a large central touchscreen, plush surfaces clad in leather, a wireless smartphone charger, and a 14-speaker JBL audio system.
Technical specifications for the second-gen Mirai remain under wraps, but it is reported Toyota aims for the hydrogen sedan to have 30 per cent greater range than the current model, meaning it could be capable of doing up to 406 miles (653 km) on a single tank.
