Hydrogen is more viable in industrial vehicles than in passenger cars, and several companies in Japan, led by Toyota, believe that hydrogen is an acceptable solution even in thermal engines, and all this to one day achieve the idyllic zero emissions.
Since Japan We get news about the world of hydrogen. Isuzu Motors Limited (Isuzu), DENSO Corporation (DENSO), Toyota Motor Corporation (Toyota), Hino Motors, Ltd. (Hino) and Commercial Japan Partnership Technologies Corporation (CJPT) have issued a joint statement regarding hydrogen engine development.
It is a group of companies in which Toyota has the leading voice, and which is the main champion in Japan of the hydrogen as a means to reach carbon neutral emissions. The collaboration is limited to the field of heavy commercial vehicles, that is, fundamentally large-tonnage trucks.
The partners of this project ensure that “On the path to carbon neutrality, there are several powertrain options to meet customer demands, including hybrid electric (HEV), plug-in hybrid (PHEV), battery electric (BEV) and fuel cell electric models. (VEGF)». The keyword is “road”something temporary towards the goal, the zero emissions.
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These companies consider that hydrogen-powered combustion engines should not be ruled out, a position very different from that of the industry in Europe. “Hydrogen engines are also one of those options”They say in the joint statement. They share that common vision to reduce emissions, the most inefficient use that can be made of hydrogen in a vehicle.
At the moment it is an experimental phase technology. Toyota took a first step with its participation in the Super Taikyu Series in 2021 with a highly modified Corolla Sport, with a lousy result in terms of sport and acceptable in terms of technique (the car could finish, but one of the last). It served as a precedent.
In any case, it will take years to see the fruits of this alliance. Part of the work is already doneToyota has come a long way on the whole hydrogen storage and injection side of its fuel cell vehicles. Putting hydrogen into a heat engine adds a bit to the complexity.
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Hydrogen in combustion engines, the “third way” towards neutral emissions
The majority consensus in the automobile industry is that the most direct way to reduce emissions towards the zero ideal scenario is with battery electric vehicles. They are the most efficient well-to-wheel and locally produce no exhaust emissions of any kind.
In industrial vehicles, hydrogen is more widely accepted as an alternative to batteries. The use of energy is not as optimal, there is less efficiency due to the losses of the processes involving production, transport and storage of hydrogen, which is literally going against nature.
But a very different thing is to use hydrogen in thermal engines. The performance is even worse, since to all of the above we must add the thermodynamic efficiency of internal combustion engines, due to heat and mechanical losses, and limited by the Carnot Cycle. Asian manufacturers, especially Chinese and Japanese, and to a lesser extent Korean, are stuck on this path.
Hydrogen can burn in an internal combustion engine as if it were gasoline, the chemical reaction that joins hydrogen with oxygen generates water vapor and heat. However, a minimum of nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions are produced by compression and there is always some oil consumption -which is burned-. All of this can be managed with exhaust purification, already existing technology.
Under the excuse that it is a solution like any other, it must be clarified that it is a solution like any other that favors the permanence of more Job positionsbecause they are engines with many more parts, and that may make more sense as retrofit (conversion) than for completely new vehicles.
Electromobility is going to cost many jobs, it is like that and it is inevitable, because far fewer moving parts are required. The manufacturers in a certain way seek to reduce the economic and social consequences of laying off thousands of people over time who would otherwise be left over.