儘管全球都在推動電池電動車，但日本豐田展示 “一款用綠色燃料引擎的誕生”

Recently the Canadian Press reported the following:

Japan's Toyota shows 'an engine born' with green fuel despite global push for battery electric cars

The Canadian Press reprinting AP

Tue, May 28, 2024 at 6:42 a.m. EDT·3 min read

TOKYO (AP) — “An engine reborn.”

That's how Japanese automaker Toyota introduced plans to cast a futuristic spin on the traditional internal combustion engine.

During a three-hour presentation at a Tokyo hall Tuesday, the car manufacturer giant announced it would offer lean compact engines that also run on so-called green fuels like hydrogen and bioethanol, or get paired with zero-emissions electric motors in hybrids.

This comes as many competitors in the auto industry are pushing for fully electric vehicles. China is revving its push for Battery Electric Vehicles, and its own BYD is threatening to outshine Tesla in that push.

Toyota’s Chief Executive Koji Sato said the “engine is optimized for the electrification era” with hopes of helping push the world into “carbon neutrality.”

Toyota already has a well-known hybrid car — the Prius — with a gas engine and an electric motor. It switches between the two to deliver a cleaner drive.

In future hybrids, the electric motor is set to become the main driving power, and the new engine will be designed to take a lesser role and help it along, according to Toyota.

Domestic allies Subaru Corp. and Mazda Motor Corp., both preparing ecological engines designed to meet the inevitably upcoming stringent emissions standards, joined Toyota 's presentation billed as a “multi-pathway workshop."

“Each company wants to win, but we can be faster if we work together,” said Sato.

But details on when the engines were coming to market weren’t disclosed.

The legacy of the car engine could be felt everywhere.

Mazda said that its prized rotary engine, introduced more than 50 years ago, was being adapted for electric vehicles.

Subaru, meanwhile, showcased its trademark smaller horizontally opposed engine. While Chief Technology Officer Tetsuro Fujinuki confirmed the company was working on a great “Subaru-like” electric vehicle, he said the company wasn’t about to dump the engine altogether.

Toyota, too, is working on stylish BEVs.

The executives said Tuesday that energy supply conditions differed globally, adding that products had to meet various customer needs and the investments needed for mass-producing BEVS were enormous.

Toyota officials also repeatedly noted that 5.5 million jobs were at stake in the overall supply chain for vehicle production in Japan nowadays, so a sudden shift to electric cars wasn’t economically possible or socially responsible.

Takahiro Fujimoto, a professor of business at Waseda University, believes electric vehicles are a key solution for reducing emissions. But they still have weak points, such as large amounts of emissions produced while making lithium-ion batteries, a chief component.

In Japan, for instance, commuters use trains, so that may be a better ecological choice for transportation, Fujimoto said.

“At the very least, I believe the proliferation of and innovations in BEVs are definitely needed. But that argument is logically not the same as saying that all we need are BEVs,” he said.

Uncertainties remain, spanning research and development, as well as social, political and market conditions, said Fujimoto.

“The carbon neutrality the world is aspiring toward isn’t likely attainable for decades to come. It’s going to be a long marathon race,” he said.

Translation

東京（美聯社）— “引擎重生。”

日本汽車製造商豐田就是這樣推出了為傳統內燃機拋出一個向未來轉向的計劃。

週二，在東京大廳舉行的三小時演講中，這家汽車製造商巨頭宣布將提供精益緊湊型發動機，這些發動機也使用氫和生物乙醇等所謂的綠色燃料，或者與混合動力車中的零排放電動機搭配使用。

與此同時，汽車業的許多競爭對手都在推動全電動汽車的發展。中國正在加緊推動電池電動車的發展，而中國自己的比亞迪則威脅要在這方面超越特斯拉。

豐田首席執行官佐藤浩二 (Koji Sato) 表示， “發動機針對電氣化時代進行了優化” ，希望幫助推動世界實現 “碳中和”。

豐田已經推出了一款著名的混合動力汽車 - Prius -配備燃氣引擎和電動馬達。它在兩者之間切換以提供更清潔的驅動。

豐田表示，在未來的混合動力汽車中，電動馬達將成為主要驅動動力，而新引擎將被設計為發揮較小的作用並幫助運作。

國內盟友 Subaru Corp 和 Mazda汽車公司都在準備可滿足生態要求的發動機，旨在對應即將到來的嚴格排放標準，並參加了豐田的被稱為 “多途徑研討會” 的演講。

佐藤說: 「每家公司都想獲勝，但如果我們共同努力，我們就能更快」。

但有關發動機何時上市的細節並未透露。

汽車引擎的残留痕跡隨處可見。

Mazda表示，其 50 多年前推出的備受推崇的轉子引擎正在應用於電動車。

同時，Subaru 展示了其標誌性的小型水平對臥引擎。雖然首席技術長 Tetsuro Fujinuki 證實該公司正在開發一款出色的「Subaru式」電動車，但亦表示該公司不打算完全放棄使用引擎。

豐田也在開發時尚的純電動車 (BEVs)。

這些高層週二表示，全球能源供應狀況各不相同，產品必須滿足不同的客戶需求，大規模生產BEVs所需的投資龐大。

豐田官員也多次指出，目前日本汽車生產的整個供應鏈有 550 萬個工作機會受到威脅，因此突然轉向電動車在經濟上是不可能的，也是對社會不負責任。

早稻田大學商學院教授藤本隆宏(Takahiro Fujimoto)認為，電動車是減少排放的關鍵解決方案。但它們仍然存在弱點，例如在製造主要零件鋰離子電池時會產生大量排放。

藤本說，例如在日本，通勤者使用火車，因此這可能是更好的生態交通選擇。

他說: 「至少，我相信純電動車的普及和創新絕對是必要的。但這種說法在邏輯上並不等於說我們需要的只是純電動車」。

藤本表示，研究和開發, 以及社會、政治和市場條件方面仍然存在不確定性。

他說: 「世界所渴望的碳中和在未來幾十年內不太可能實現。這將是一場漫長的馬拉松比賽」。

              So, in Japan car manufacturer giants announce that, as an alternative to BEVs, they would offer lean compact engines that also run on so-called green fuels like hydrogen and bioethanol. Some Japanese hold the opinion that while the proliferation of and innovations in BEVs are needed, yet it is not logically the same as saying that all we need are just BEVs, and are offering engine alternatives so as to prove the existence of “multi-pathway”. Indeed, globally, some manufactures are trying engines that use hydrogen to run.

 Note:

1. The Mazda Wankel engines (萬事得轉子引擎) are a family of Wankel rotary combustion car engines produced by Mazda. Wankel engines were invented in 1950s by Felix Wankel, a German engineer. Over the years, displacement has been increased and turbocharging has been added. Mazda rotary engines have a reputation for being relatively small and powerful at the expense of poor fuel efficiency. (Wikipedia)

2.  Battery Electric Vehicles, also called BEVs and more frequently called EVs, are fully electric vehicles with rechargeable batteries and no gasoline engine. All energy to run the vehicle comes from the battery pack which is recharged from the grid. (https://www.evgo.com/ev-drivers/types-of-evs/#bevs)