TOKYO– TOKYO (AP) – “An engine reborn. »
This is how the Japanese car manufacturer Toyota presented its project to give a futuristic touch to the traditional internal combustion engine.
During a three-hour presentation in a Tokyo hall on Tuesday, the automaker giant said it would offer lightweight compact engines that would also run on, or combine with, so-called green fuels like hydrogen and bioethanol. to zero-emission electric motors in hybrids.
This comes as many auto industry competitors are pushing for fully electric vehicles. China is ramping up its push for battery electric vehicles, and its own BYD threatens to surpass Tesla in this area.
Toyota Chief Executive Koji Sato said “the engine is optimized for the electrification era” in hopes of helping push the world toward “carbon neutrality.”
Toyota already has a well-known hybrid car – the Prius – with a gasoline engine and an electric motor. It switches between the two to provide a cleaner drive.
In future hybrids, the electric motor is set to become the main driving force, and the new motor will be designed to play a lesser role and assist, according to Toyota.
National Allies Subaru Corp. and Mazda Motor Corp., both of which are preparing environmentally friendly engines designed to meet the strict emissions standards inevitably to come, joined Toyota’s presentation billed as a “multi-lane workshop.”
“Every company wants to win, but we can be faster if we work together,” Sato said.
But details on when the engines will go on sale have not been disclosed.
The heritage of the automobile engine was felt everywhere.
Mazda said its prized rotary engine, introduced more than 50 years ago, was being adapted for electric vehicles.
Subaru, meanwhile, introduced its smaller horizontally opposed engine. While chief technology officer Tetsuro Fujinuki confirmed the company was working on a stunning “Subaru-like” electric vehicle, he said the company was not about to abandon the engine altogether.
Toyota is also working on stylish BEVs.
The executives said on Tuesday that energy supply conditions differ globally, adding that products must meet various customer needs and the investments required for mass production of BEVS are huge.
Toyota officials have also repeatedly emphasized that 5.5 million jobs are now at stake in Japan’s overall auto production supply chain, so a sudden shift to electric cars will not be a problem. was neither economically possible nor socially responsible.
Takahiro Fujimoto, a business professor at Waseda University, believes electric vehicles are a key solution to reducing emissions. But they still have weaknesses, such as the large amounts of emissions produced during the manufacturing of lithium-ion batteries, a main component.
In Japan, for example, commuters use trains, which could be a better eco-friendly transportation choice, Fujimoto said.
“At the very least, I think the proliferation and innovation of BEVs is absolutely necessary. But that argument is logically not the same as saying all we need are BEVs,” he said.
Uncertainties remain, covering research and development, as well as social, political and market conditions, Fujimoto said.
“The carbon neutrality that the world aspires to will probably not be achievable for decades. It will be a long marathon race,” he said.
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Yuri Kageyama is on X: https://twitter.com/yurikageyama
ABC News
