Powertrain | Diesel International 2022-11

H2 - ONROAD
#ENI #ITALY #TOYOTA
TOYOTA: AN HYDROGEN HUB?
Toyota Motor Italia is part of this operation and will put at
least 10 Mirai on the road. Toyota is gaining a central position
at the intersection of the various candidate applications
for hydrogenisation. Fuel cells for the Mercedes e-Citaro, the
FC2 rail (a reaction to the hydrogen train signed by Alstom
and Cummins), the agreement with Isuzu and Hino. The one
with Parker. The nautical industry, with the REXH2 module
and the collaboration with Yanmar.
Luigi Ksawery Lucà, CEO of Toyota Motor Italia, confirms:
“Toyota pursues a multi-technological approach by trying
different paths to achieve low and zero emissions. This Eni
station represents us, because it includes the charging for
battery-based electric vehicles, the hydrogen refuelling and
traditional fuels. Mirai welcomes its second generation,
which can be charged for a 650-kilometre autonomy in just
5 minutes, and costs like an electric car.”
Does Toyota plan to increase its presence in the last mile?
“At this stage our goal is to provide the technological solution,
that is the fuel cell. We have a partnership with Caetano
Bus, in that case the fuel cells are from Toyota. We also
have a second partnership with Mercedes. Our idea is to
meet the needs of road transport more and more.”
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Kubota Micro Hybrid Engine
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for industries and service stations.
We will build more stations, we will
take part in the hydrogenisation of the
Italian and, hopefully, also European
network, and depending on the model
of the service station we will supply
it with gas, either by tank wagon
or by electrolyser. As for Italy, Europe
has set a target of 270,000 tonnes of
hydrogen per year for transports in
2030, which could double in light of
the REPowerEU, thus hundreds of stations,
even larger than this one, will be
needed. The quality of the materials is
paramount, requiring only stainless
steel. Storage has to be at 1,000 atmospheres,
and its supply cannot be at
more than 700 atm. We therefore need
technologically prepared players,
such as ENI.”
What are the future prospects in light
of the decarbonisation goal to be
reached by 2035?
Ricci replies. “It is a very important
challenge that we face with a holistic
approach, making all energy vectors
available, so that our customers will
be able to choose according to their
convenience and type of transport.
The electric option is very good for
light transport and short distances,
so much so that our standard offers
high-power charging stations. Traditional
fuels are fine to ensure the continuity
of the existing fleet. They will
gradually diminish, but there are currently
38 million vehicles circulating
in Italy, mostly powered with petrol
and diesel. Compressed and liquefied
gas is good too, and we are changing
it to biomethane, with 22 plants producing
biogas, to which we intend to
add new ones. Our goal is to reach
200 million normal cubic metres of
biomethane per year in five years,
which will supply our service stations.
Hydrogen is in addition to biofuels,
which from the first of January we will
also sell in their pure form, with the
same level of decarbonisation as an
electric vehicle, but using traditional
engines and infrastructure. Hydrogen
currently costs more than 10 euros
per kilo. A vehicle like Toyota Mirai
travels about 100 kilometres with one
litre, equivalent to 6/7 litres of diesel,
so all in all it is not too expensive, also
thanks to the absence of excise duty. I
believe that in about ten years hydrogen
will become competitive. Vehicles
will continue to rely on different fuels:
electric, hydrogen, biomethane, LNG,
petrol, diesel, biofuels.”
Economical solution for short-term high loads
The Kubota Micro Hybrid engine is equipped with a 48-volt motor generator and provides up to 10 kW of additional
electrical power to match short-term infrequent high loads. This allows customers to select an efficient engine with
an output power matching the lower and medium load demands frequently used. Applications already equipped
with a compatible Kubota engine can be converted retrospectively.
• Simple, easy to install system
• High torque, direct response
• Lower operating costs
global.engine.kubota.co.jp/en/technology/microhybrid
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