WHILE clean mobility solutions are critical to slow climate change, it is also important for economically practical options to be provided for mass adoption by emerging markets.
In emerging markets in Asia, customers are very diverse in terms of their mobility needs, usage conditions, purchasing power, and societal contexts, according to a Toyota Motor Corp (TMC) statement.
Considering that mobility is essential to education, employment, trade and healthcare, the world’s largest automaker aims to provide clean and green “Mobility for All”.
TMC president Akio Toyoda noted that the automaker has a full portfolio of carbon-reducing choices, ranging from hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) like the Camry, to plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) like the Prius Prime to full, battery electric cars (BEVs) like the bZ4X, and hydrogen-powered fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) like the Mirai.
At Toyota Motor Thailand’s 60th anniversary celebrations, Hao Quoc Tien, who is Toyota Motor Corp’s CEO for Asia Region, also confirmed plans to launch compact hybrids in the A and B-segments in Asean in the near future.
Toyoda and his Rookie Racing privateer team had thrilled spectators at an endurance race in Thailand with their hydrogen-powered GR Corolla H2 as well as a synthetic fuel-powered GR86.
The GR Corolla H2 has a 1.6-litre turbocharged three-cylinder engine with direct injection, and with very minor modifications, it is powered by hydrogen stored in four tanks.
The experimental race car is nearly emissions-free, and emits almost no carbon dioxide (CO2) – aside from a little engine oil burned during driving, as well as some nitrogen oxide (NOx).
As for synthetic fuels, a Toyota Times report explains that these liquid fuels are produced from industrially recovered carbon dioxide (CO2) and hydrogen.
Power plants and factories are major CO2 resources, while hydrogen is obtained via water electrolysis using electricity from renewable energy (RE) sources.
Synthetic fuels and plant-derived biofuels are both carbon-neutral fuels.
Synthetic fuels can also make use of existing fuel infrastructure, as waning oil demand creates surplus capacity, which also helps to smoothen the market transition to such fuels.
Toyoda had said during his visit to Thailand that BEVs are not the only way to achieve the world’s carbon neutrality goals.
“I still believe hydrogen is as promising a technology for our future as BEVs,” he said.
However, there are tough hurdles to overcome on the road to the mass adoption of such cars.
German industry expert Stefan Bratzel pointed out there is “high energy input needed for producing hydrogen”, in a recent article by the German Press Agency (dpa).
On the way from electricity to hydrogen and back to electricity, much of the energy is lost, he explains.
Another argument against hydrogen is the cost of creating the necessary infrastructure.
In Germany, for example, there are currently only about 100 hydrogen filling stations.
A hydrogen-central.com report noted that Japan’s government has set a goal of opening 1,000 hydrogen stations by 2030.
So far, only 160 or so exist in Japan due to the small number of FCEVs and the high cost of building the stations.
Still, green or renewable hydrogen is quickly gaining traction as developed economies have announced targets and policies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
The UK is set to end the sale of new petrol and diesel cars by 2030, and in the European Union, all new cars and vans sold starting 2035 should be zero emission.
The EU targets that by 2050, its transport sector can become carbon-neutral.
A Macquarie report said South Korea plans to source a third of its energy from hydrogen by 2050, making the gas the largest single source of energy nationally.
As for synthetic fuels, other automakers besides TMC are also exploring and investing in this energy pathway.
In December 2022, Porsche opened a pilot plant in Punta Arenas, Chile to produce synthetic fuels or eFuels, made from water and carbon dioxide using wind energy.
The south of Chile offers ideal wind conditions for 270 days a year, which allows wind turbines to operate at full capacity.
Meanwhile, during a visit to Toyota Motor Thailand’s (TMT) Ban Pho plant, located about 60km from central Bangkok, press writers were briefed on the automaker’s strategies to cut CO2 emissions by rationalising the manufacturing process and adopting RE.
The Ban Pho plant, which has solar rooftop panels as well as a solar farm area measuring 280,000 sq metres, has an ambitious target of increasing RE usage from 10% as at end-2022, to 30% by 2025.
The Ban Pho plant produces the Hilux and Fortuner and has an annual production capacity of 220,000 units.
TMT’s Environmental Report 2018 noted that its three plants’ (Samrong, Ban Pho and Gateway) solar panels can generate 3,640Mwh per year.
The Ban Pho plant, together with TMC’s Tsutsumi plant in Japan, as well as three other plants – each located in the US, the UK and France, is a model plant for sustainable plant activities.
The plant has achieved zero landfill waste since starting operations in 2007 and was the first overseas TMC plant to introduce a cogeneration system and solar panels, which enabled it to cut its CO2 emissions by 9,000 tons annually.
In addition, wastewater is recycled at the plant and water-borne metallic paint is used in vehicle body paint lines.
Also, a 96,000 sq metre eco forest at the plant has nearly 400 species of living organisms, according to an internal company survey.
In the last few years, TMT also initiated projects to successfully construct habitats for Asian Golden Weaver birds, and a firefly breeding pond at the eco forest.
TMT president Noriaki Yamashita had said since 1962, TMT has grown to have 275,000 employees and partners, and leads the Thai market with a 33% share as well as being the country’s largest vehicle exporter.
Notably, Thailand is Toyota’s fourth highest volume production centre, after Japan, China and the US.
Yamashita pointed out that Toyota takes a 360-degree approach to carbon neutrality, not only with its vehicles but with factory operations and logistics, as well.
He said since 2014, TMT has reduced its CO2 output by 35% and will reduce it by another 13% by installing solar panels in all its factories by 2025.
“We have also planted three million trees and counting, to help reduce CO2,” he said.
Keyword: Toyota: Roads to alternative fuelled cars