I'm surprised no one has mentioned this yet.

https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a6...e-development/

Collaboration between Toyota, Subaru, and Mazda.

Toyota also announced 3 new ICEs. The vision is to be capable of running on various fuel types - traditional gasoline, hydrogen, and others. Hoping that this takes off.

My dream future state "clean" power plant is a hydrogen-ICE hybrid with a 30kwh solid state battery weighing less than 100 lbs.

• 3-cyl electric turbo - Porsche style
• solid state battery cutting current battery weights by 50-60% or more
• multi-fuel option (traditional gasoline, hydrogen, and synthetic-alternatives)
• manual option

I figure we can solve the renewable energy storage problem via hydrogen. Over produce the energy for "free" and use the excess production for hydrogen electrolysis to store the energy (rather than batteries). I much prefer this path to the current EV solution which has created its own set of new problems.

 

Correct me if I'm wrong, but currently all alternative energy fuels like hydro and ammonia all have some sort of issue, like requiring more energy to produce the fuel, not being as energy dense, and having some significant side effects like going boom or poisoning people.

I've been pretty vocal about my stance with EVs, but the foreseeable future to me looks like hybrid drivetrains to maximize fuel efficiency at the expense of other precious metals with its own host of problems.

Generally speaking, hybrids as they're commonly seen now seems to be the best solution, but from an enthusiast standpoint I'm warming up to Honda's hybrid system which allows for an always on ICE engine that responds to driver's inputs like a pure ICE vehicle, and allows for a manual transmission. Looking at the system as a whole, theoretically it isn't any more radical than adding forced induction, and in some ways it may actually be simpler, and as you said @Bullwings with more SSD batteries coming online, heck it may actually be lighter than adding FI with all of its cooling needs.

To expound on this idea further, it could actually make packaging easier, lower center of gravity, better heat management, etc.

My pipe dream though would be OEMs developing engines in this case to be more characterful and sounding awesome, and not just sound like a pissed off insect or sewing machine.

In any rate, I think the EV apocalpyse is still a bit of a way off, Tesla is aggressively cutting prices to keep demand up, and EVs from other OEMs are just sitting on lots. They're great if you have the right situation for them, but the general populace just doesn't. If there are breakthroughs in synthetic fuels like what Porsche is developing, and gas prices go back down, I imagine EVs will continue to be a somewhat niche alternative.

 

I'd be content if alternate fuels were the focus versus EV's. Hybrid of sorts doesn't bother me, but full EV isn't happening anytime soon (if ever) for me where I live.

 

Here is something worthy of consideration. Toyota is s very smart company and does their research. It has been noted by Toyota, that for the energy and resources required to build one (1) EV, they can produce six (6) plug in hybrids. Six. Oh, they can produce eighty (80) regular hybrids. Not eight...eighty.

darcy

 

VW, GM and Ford have all announced a lengthening implementation of EVs, while reducing current EV production. A PHEV gives a 90% use case to allow mostly electric driving while using way less materials/minerals for the battery. A recent report showed that emissions targets were being met WITHOUT EVs, purely on the back of the PHEV/hybrid models being sold in far greater numbers.

Toyota got it right all along (and I've been screaming this for the last five years). EVs aren't needed to help reduce emissions drastically. Hybrids (PHEVs, especially) do a far better job (lower cost, better use of existing infrastructure, lower use of materials, no range anxiety, etc) and achieve nearly as much at a lower dollar per mile impact.

 

Anyone with a brain has been screaming that for the last five years (honestly more than 5 years). People in positions of power pushing an EV transition have little grasp of science and technology, the irony of which should not be lost.

To Bullwing's point, hydrogen should feature heavily in the future. It could easily be produced in great quantities by nuclear energy - which, thankfully, is also FINALLY getting more attention in the US.

 

Yep, and ironically, GM is buying back up to $6B of it's stock due to strong demand for it's GAS-powered vehicles.

https://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/...wered-vehicles

We still love our Model Y, but it has it's limitations. That said, besides having to stop and wait a bit for supercharging on road trips, it's arguably a 'perfect' around town runabout for my wife and two boys. Plug it in at home and go wherever. 16k miles on it so far with zero maintenance. That is nice not having to deal with oil changes or most normal maintenance.

 

Toyota’s G16, which powers the GR Corolla, has been designed to run on gasoline, synthetic e-fuels, biodiesel, and hydrogen.
Pretty cool owning this even though I doubt mine would run on biodiesel or hydrogen without heavy modification. Just cool that they did this with an engine I own.

 

We all may have been screaming it, but I know I've been saying I'm not sold on the EV event horizon due to several practical challenges. It'll probably eventually happen, but not until some major break throughs occur. Just like self driving, we're still further out than people really know. When VW is the champion of something, that alone should tell you it's probably not a well thought out plan.

They can legislate things as much as they want, end of the day the dollar vote will be very telling, and the market is drying up. The OEMs want to point to other factors, but the real factor is simple- demand is weening.

The upper middle class that can afford multiple vehicles (even if they choos to just drive one) can afford novelty, especially if it comes with a large dose of social signaling. I was not sold due to the practical challenges EVs had for their target audience- urban dwellers. The lack of parking, congestion, etc etc, already makes ICE vehicles challenging, and EVs don't excel in rural areas. Then you factor in the natural resources needed, and all the infrastructure improvements that need to be made and I just didn't see it happening, at least not yet.

These OEMs really need to stop listening to focus groups, the general populace need to be told what to want/need. Ford axed all cars except the Mustang because peopel want CUVs, yet in 2023 aside from the #1 F150, the Camry, Corolla, Accord, and Civic all outsold Ford's next most popular vehicle.

 

It is quite cool, I think all of the new architecture Toyota is doing has this in mind.