The Japanese automobile manufacturing giant Toyota announced in June earlier this year three new internal combustion engines to add to their already robust line-up. These internal combustion engines are the next generation of internal combustion for Toyota with radical changes and increased efficiency. These new engines offer a glimpse into what internal combustion engines may look like in a world embracing alternative energy.
Toyota retains confidence in the internal combustion engine despite the world going green
Despite the world looking to do-away with the internal combustion engine, Toyota believes that adapting internal combustion engines to reduce their carbon output instead of doing away with them completely is a more realistic route of where automobiles are headed. Toyota chairman Akio Toyoda predicts that despite how advanced electric vehicles become, they won’t hold more than a 30 percent market share. With this in mind, the internal combustion engine is not going anywhere, and adaptions to a green market are the next step in their journey.
Toyota’s new line of internal combustion engines are paving a way to combine the old-favorite technology with alternative energy demands to reach sustainability. The engines will run on regular fossil fuels, but can also run on carbon-neutral fuels such as liquid hydrogen, synthetic fuel, and bioethanol. These engines showcase how to transition the internal combustion engine sustainably without having to do away with it completely.
More efficient, smaller, and lighter
Toyota unveiled their new engines at a joint conference they held with Mazda and Subaru. Two of the three engines are a pair of 1.5-litre four-cylinder petrol units – one naturally-aspirated, one turbocharged. The third is a larger 2.0-litre turbo unit. All three engines have also been developed with the potential to incorporate electricity as a fuel source too.
All three engines provide an efficient fuel economy, with Toyota claiming that they produce significantly more power than the current internal combustion engines in use within current vehicles on the road. The smaller dimensions also means that the naturally-aspirated engine which is 10 percent smaller in both volume and height than current models in the Toyota Yarris and Yarris cross-breeds.
Intended changes for current models are underway
“Adding another cylinder allowed engineers to lower the height and make the overall engine more compact,” says Toyota, “for the current engine to clear the strict emissions regulations slated for Europe and the US, Toyota would need to curb its power output and use expensive catalysts to clean up exhaust gases.” The turbo-charged engine is intended to replace the engine in the RAV4, Camry, and Kluger models.
By replacing the RAV4, Camry, and Kluger models’ engines, this would bring a 20 percent reduction in overall volume with a decreased height of 15 percent according to Toyota. “It drastically improves output and will serve a wide range of applications where power is required, from trucks and other heavy-duty vehicles to sports cars,” says Toyota.
Toyota CTO Hiroki Nakajima says the engines have been “reborn”
The next-generation technology is the considered the rebirth of Toyota’s engines according to CTO Hiroki Nakajima. The engines are optimised for plug-in hybrid technology while leaving room for multiple alternative fuel sources. “By combining highly efficient, compact and powerful engines with electric drive units, I believe we have expanded the potential for offering more affordable BEVs,” says Nakajima.
Toyota along with Mazda and Subaru. are currently focusing their efforts on developing next-generation internal combustion engines like the three Toyota has unveiled. By developing a flexible internal combustion engine, the three companies are pioneering the way for a “multi-pathway” towards a carbon-neutral future which still has room for internal combustion engines.