Toyota unveils its plans for the future in Brussels during the Kenshiki event, which in Japanese means insight, or vision. And, Toyota has announced its commitment to achieve complete carbon neutrality in Europe by 2040. Building on last year’s commitment to achieve 100% reduction of CO2 emissions in all new vehicles in the EU, in UK and EFTA by 2035, the direction has been set along two key focus areas: first is carbon neutrality and how we intend to achieve it in our business areas, and second, in the transformation process from Car Company a Mobiliy Company.
Furthermore, great attention was placed on the importance of hydrogen without forgetting the “classic” combustion engines.
Not just hybrid and electric technology
Toyota believes that hybrid technology, which had already made its debut with the Japanese brand in 1997, is an important differentiating factor in Europe. We also recall that Toyota is engaged in the production of battery electric vehicles (BEVs) which are important for achieving carbon neutrality. However, more electrified powertrains are also needed to reduce carbon emissions as much as possible and as soon as possible. And this is where hydrogen comes into play, which has advantages where lithium batteries are weak and vice versa. Furthermore, the opportunity for hydrogen extends well beyond light-duty vehicles and there is a marked acceleration of interest across all transport sectors, especially in markets that are seeking to secure energy independence, such as Germany.
Wide application also to heavy vehicles
Toyota is confident that hydrogen will become one of the important tools used to combat climate change. Beyond its current uses, the idea is that hydrogen will also be used in the production of steel and concrete and for storage of renewable energy, where it is ten times cheaper on a large scale than batteries. This is because, unlike batteries, hydrogen decouples the storage tank scale from the energy conversion device scale. Significant potential is seen at Toyota in vehicles, especially larger vehicles where the lower mass of the hydrogen and faster refueling are essential. In fact, hydrogen can refuel a truck as quickly as diesel, with the same number of pumps, which is not possible with an electric truck. That’s one reason why Toyota believes in the promise of hydrogen.
Hydrogen: it’s a matter of time and necessity
The prices of lithium, a fundamental material for the construction of batteries for BEV vehicles, are currently at an all-time high: over 50,000 dollars per ton, ten more than just two years ago. This is partly due to geopolitical events, but above all rapid increase in demand, to underinvestment in mining over the last decade. Today, it takes 4 to 7 years to build a lithium mine, while just 24 months to build a battery plant. Two realities, of the same chain, which live at two different speeds. During the next 10-15 years of battery material shortages, precious battery cells should not be wasted on long-range BEVs driven short distances. Rather, the battery cells should be placed where they will perform the most. Against this background, Toyota has decided to offer different powertrains for different circumstances, to reduce carbon emissions as much as possible, as soon as possible.