(CNB) TOYOTA & YAMAHA DEVELOPING H2 FUELLED V8 ICE

A Yamaha Motor Co., V8 hydrogen engine displayed in Japan, on Saturday, Nov. 13, 2021. Toru Hanai | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Toyota has commissioned Yamaha Motor to develop a hydrogen-fueled engine, with the president of the latter stating that his company was committed to the internal combustion engine.

In an announcement toward the end of last week, Yamaha said the 5.0-liter V8 engine would be developed for automobiles and based on the one used by the Lexus RC F coupe, with alterations made to its cylinder heads and injectors, among other things.

According to Yamaha, the unit is able to deliver as much as 450 horsepower at 6,800 revolutions per minute. The company said it had been working on a hydrogen engine for automobiles for roughly five years.

Yamaha Motor President Yoshihiro Hidaka said that while his company was aiming to achieve carbon neutrality by the year 2050 it also had “a strong passion for and level of commitment to the internal combustion engine.”

“Hydrogen engines house the potential to be carbon-neutral while keeping our passion for the internal combustion engine alive at the same time,” Hidaka went on to say.

Last week’s statement builds on one from Nov. 2021 when Yamaha Motor, Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Toyota, Subaru and Mazda released details of what they described as a “challenge to expand fuel options for using internal combustion engines.” It was at this announcement that the V8 engine developed for Toyota was shown to the public.

The notion of powering an internal combustion engine with hydrogen is not a new one. Toyota has already developed a GR Yaris which has a 1.6-liter ICE and uses hydrogen as its fuel.


According to the company, the GR Yaris uses the same powertrain as a hydrogen-powered Corolla Sport. The firm has labeled both of these vehicles as “experimental.”

Firms such as BMW have also produced vehicles such as the BMW Hydrogen 7. According to the German automaker, the Hydrogen 7 used an internal combustion engine and was able to run on gasoline or liquid hydrogen. Production of the vehicle began in 2006 and a limited run was made.

Using hydrogen to power an internal combustion engine is different to hydrogen fuel cell technology, where gas from a tank mixes with oxygen, producing electricity. As the U.S. Department of Energy’s Alternative Fuels Data Center notes, fuel cell vehicles emit “only water vapor and warm air.”

By contrast, hydrogen ICEs do produce emissions. “Hydrogen engines release near zero, trace amounts of CO2 … but can produce nitrogen oxides, or NOx,” Cummins, the engine maker, says. CNBC - link - Anmar Frangoul - link - more like this - link

(VID) YAMAHA EMBRACES GOGORO NETWORK

Taiwan has the highest density of scooters in the world, apparently, and in March there will be a new innovative scooter in town. 

The Yamaha EMF - a fully electric scooter - is the result of a collaboration between the Japanese marque and GoGoro, an electric scooter manufacturer with a monstrous swappable battery network.

Powered by an electric motor with a 7.6 kW (10.2 bhp) motor, the Yamaha EMF is billed as the ultimate city scooter which is said to reach 30 mph in 3.5, have a top speed of around 60 mph, and weigh around 114 kg. But, importantly, the range per battery is yet to be confirmed.

Though, we suppose the range isn’t of concern (which is novel for an electric machine) as the key feature of this scooter is the utilisation of the Gogoro swappable battery network. Simply roll up, replace your battery with a fully charged one, and roll out.

“At the heart of Gogoro’s ecosystem is the Gogoro Network, a hyper-efficient battery swapping platform that was recognized in 2021 by Guidehouse Insights as the leading battery swapping company for lightweight urban vehicles in the world,” writes the company.

“With more than 450,000 riders and over 10,000 battery swapping GoStations at over 2,200 convenient locations, Gogoro Network is hosting 330,000 daily battery swaps with more than 250 million total battery swaps to date” - from the Yamaha press release.

Yamaha and GoGoro - an electric partnership?

Yamaha is widely known to be a member of the Electric Consortium with Honda, KTM and Piaggio whose chief goal is to provide interchangeable batteries across models. With this framework in place, a swappable battery network makes a lot of sense in mainland Europe. visordown - link - Alex Strange - link - more like this - link

(H2V) KAWASAKI & YAMAHA TO EXPLORE H2 ICE

Kawasaki Heavy Industries and Yamaha Motor will jointly research the potential development of a hydrogen-fuelled internal combustion engine for two-wheeled vehicles.

The new hydrogen engine could support the creation of zero-emission motorbikes providing a new avenue to decarbonise and expand hydrogen mobility.

With the two automotive giants set to explore the development of hydrogen engines, the clean energy carrier could become a key vector in the motorbike industry providing a zero-emission power source.

Kawasaki Heavy Industries is already developing hydrogen-fuelled engines for land, sea, and air mobility applications and, with this new expansion, the types of applications for the engine have been revealed.

To support this development, Yamaha is creating a hydrogen engine suitable for two-wheeled vehicles and thus compliments Kawasaki’s developments.

To accelerate this technology development, Yamaha is preparing to introduce new equipment and is strengthening its in-house development structure. h2 view - link - the excellent George Heynes - link - more like this - link