We saw the shift to electrification even before the start of the decade. But we’re not even halfway there – at the end of the decade, many automakers have promised to stop selling vehicles with internal combustion engines (ICEs). For what purpose? To curb the world’s carbon emissions and hopefully prevent climate change.
But Akio Toyoda believes that this is not enough, Automotive News report. According to the CEO of Toyota Motor Corporation, this still doesn’t do much to reduce the emissions of the millions of ICE-equipped cars – even if all the new cars that will be sold one day are electric.
Toyota’s solution is to turn existing vehicles into carbon-neutral drives – either by converting them to full electric or with a hydrogen engine.
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Toyota has shown how it’s done at the Tokyo Auto Salon where the automaker showcased two AE86 Concepts. One is all-electric while the other is powered by hydrogen.
Clad in the iconic black and white body, the hydrogen-powered AE86 H2 Concept is equipped with two Mirai-sourced hydrogen storages placed in the trunk. The four-cylinder engine under the hood features modified fuel injectors, fuel pipes and spark plugs to meet hydrogen system specifications.
The Toyota AE86 BEV Concept, on the other hand, uses an electric motor sourced from the Tundra hybrid, the battery pack from the Prius plug-in hybrid, and components from other Toyota and Lexus production models. Surprisingly, it came with a manual transmission.
These two concepts should provide evidence that Toyoda’s vision can be realized, although Toyota admits that discussing this is only the first step in a long development process.
“Many automakers are targeting a 100 percent switch to battery EVs, between 2030 and 2040,” Toyoda said in a press release. Automotive News report. “But the reality is that we cannot achieve carbon neutrality by 2050 by simply shifting all new car sales to EVs.…It is important to provide options for the cars you already own.”
