Tag: toyota

Toyota Plans to Use Regenerative Fuel Cell Technology for Manned Lunar Rover

Toyota Motor plans to use regenerative fuel cell technology to power a manned lunar rover, executives said on Friday, raising the prospect of eventually using the moon‘s water ice as an energy source in the future.

Japan has stepped up its space ambitions under Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.

It is participating in NASA‘s Artemis programme and plans to have an astronaut at a lunar space station called Gateway as part of that in the latter half of the 2020’s. 

Toyota has teamed up with Japan’s space agency since 2019 to develop the manned lunar rover — which it dubbed the Lunar Cruiser — that they hope can be put on the moon in 2029.

“In order to conduct long-term and stable research on the surface of the moon, we are aiming to source various items on site over a long period,” said Ken Yamashita, head of lunar exploration projects at Toyota.

NASA expects Japan to provide a lunar rover with a 2029 target launch date as a contribution to the Artemis programme, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency said in presentation materials on Friday.

A fuel cell vehicle uses an electric motor like an electric vehicle but draws power from a fuel stack where hydrogen is separated by a catalyst to produce electricity.

Toyota said its technology will utilise solar energy and water to produce hydrogen and oxygen through electrolysis during daylight hours, and the fuel cells to supply electricity during the night.

A lunar night lasts about 14 earth days, so with help of the technology the lunar rover would be able to ride for many days at a stretch even when it is dark and extremely cold 

The world’s largest automaker by sales hopes to secure an order for the manned lunar rover by autumn of next year. The vehicle is expected to be able to carry two astronauts for 42 days a year on mission and stay in operation for 10 years, it said.

“Our idea is to continue with the lunar rover longer than those 10 years if there’s a company or arrangement that can supply the water needed for that,” Yamashita said, adding that clean water will initially have to be sent into space with it.

Toyota is not expecting it will be able to generate water usable for fuel cells from the moon’s ice water or be capable of mining it by itself, Yamashita cautioned, saying it would likely rely on other companies or future developments for that.

© Thomson Reuters 2023  
 

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Suzuki to Invest $35 Billion in EVs Through 2030, Will Introduce Electric Vehicles in India and Europe

Suzuki Motor will invest JPY 4.5 trillion (roughly Rs. 2,85,614 crore) through fiscal 2030 in research, development and capital spending to make battery electric vehicles (EVs), it said on Thursday.

The Japanese automaker known for making compact “kei” cars said it would invest JPY 2 trillion in electrification and autonomous driving technologies, while allocating JPY 2.5 trillion (roughly Rs. 1,56,915) to build a battery EV plant and for renewable energy facilities.

Of the money earmarked for electrification, JPY 500 billion (roughly Rs. 31,380 crore) would be invested in batteries, it said.

Suzuki‘s announcement comes after other Japanese automakers have rolled out similar goals to catch up with European and US rivals in the fast-growing battery EV market.

Mazda Motor unveiled in November a $10.6 billion (roughly Rs. 86,460 crore) spending plan to electrify its vehicles.

Suzuki said it would introduce its first battery EVs, including small sport-utility vehicles and micro “kei” cars, in Japan in fiscal 2023. With cost-conscious customers in mind, company president Toshihiro Suzuki said he wanted to sell vehicles for around JPY 1 million (roughly Rs. 6,27,400).

Suzuki plans to introduce battery EVs in Europe and India, and its first battery electric motorcycles globally, the following year.

The company is aiming to leverage its cooperation with car giant [Toyota Motor](https;//gadgets360.com/tags/toyota) to capture a bigger share of India’s budding EV market, which is gaining momentum.

Suzuki plans to learn from Toyota how to use EV technology to make small electric cars, Suzuki said during a visit to India this month.

Still, Toshihiro Suzuki said on Thursday the automaker was not abandoning hybrid and internal combustion vehicle line-ups, pointing to a lack of charging infrastructure, high EV costs and concerns over limited battery resources.

For India, Suzuki’s key market, it predicted EVs would make up 15 percent of its vehicle line-up in fiscal 2030, while internal combustion engine cars using biofuels and ethanol as fuels would make up 60 percent.

“We will put in vehicles for various price ranges, for various people, for various regions,” Toshihiro Suzuki said.

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India’s Passenger Vehicle Makers See Double Digit Growth Amid Improvement in Chip Shortage Issue: Details

Improvement in semiconductor shortage issue helped auto makers, including Maruti Suzuki, Hyundai, Tata Motors and Mahindra & Mahindra, report single to high double-digit growth on Monday in their domestic passenger vehicles sales in July.

Other manufacturers, Kia India, Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM), Honda Cars India, Skoda Auto India, also reported robust growth in their domestic passenger vehicle sales with the auto industry estimated to have achieved the highest-ever passenger vehicle wholesales in July this year.

Maruti Suzuki India said its domestic passenger vehicle sales rose 6.82 percent last month to 1,42,850 units compared to 1,33,732 units in July 2021.

“The shortage of electronic components had a minor impact on the production of vehicles, mainly in domestic models,” the company said in a statement.

The company’s sales were driven mainly by compact cars, including Baleno, Celerio, Dzire, Ignis, Swift, Tour S, and WagonR, which rose to 84,818 units in July 2022 from 70,268 units in the year-ago month.

Sales of mini cars — comprising Alto and S-Presso — grew to 20,333 units last month, up from 19,685 units in July 2021. However, sales of utility vehicles —including Brezza, Ertiga, S-Cross and XL6 — were lower at 23,272 units compared to 32,272 units.

“The overall industry sales stood at over 3.42 lakh units last month as compared with 2.94 lakh units in July 2021. This is the highest wholesale figure we have ever seen in the industry,” MSI India Senior Director (Marketing and Sales) Shashank Srivastava told PTI.

The previous best wholesales stood at 3.34 lakh units in October 2020, he said, adding, it has been possible due to better production as chip shortage eased a bit.

The industry is expected to cross 37 lakh unit sales mark this fiscal, which is going to be the highest ever, he noted.

Another major player Hyundai Motor India said its domestic sales were at 50,500 units last month, 5.1 percent higher than 48,042 units sold in July 2021.

“With the improvement in the semiconductor situation, the passenger vehicle segment is showing positive trends riding on the green shoots of pent-up demand and customer desire towards personal mobility,” HMIL Director (Sales, Marketing & Service) Tarun Garg said.

Tata Motors posted a 57 percent increase in its domestic passenger vehicles sales at 47,505 units as compared to 30,185 units in the year-ago month. The company’s passenger electric vehicle sales also rose to 4,022 units last month from 604 units in July 2021, the company said.

Similarly, Mahindra & Mahindra reported a 33 percent increase in domestic passenger vehicles sales in July this year at 28,053 units as against 21,046 units in the same month last year, driven by its utility vehicles.

M&M’s domestic utility vehicle sales during the month were at 27,854 units, as against 20,797 units in the year-ago month, up 34 percent, while sales of cars and vans were down 20 percent at 199 units, as compared to 249 units a year ago.

“The supply chain situation continues to remain dynamic, and we are monitoring the situation closely,” M&M President, Automotive Division, Veejay Nakra said.

Kia India also reported a 47 percent increase in its wholesales to 22,022 units in July as compared to 15,016 units in July 2021.

Gradual improvement in the supply chain and continued demand for the brand is adding momentum to the company’s growth, Kia India Vice President & Head of Sales and Marketing Hardeep Singh Brar said.

Another automobile manufacturer Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM) reported its highest-ever dispatches in a month at 19,693 units in July. This was 50 percent more than 13,105 units it had sold in July 2021.

Skoda Auto also reported a 44 percent increase in its wholesales at 4,447 units in July as compared to 3,080 units sold in July 2021.

“This is usually the period where big purchases are kept on hold as it’s the monsoon and deferred till the festive season kicks off. Yet, we have clocked in solid numbers on the back of our made-for-India, INDIA 2.0 cars, the Kushaq and the Slavia,” Skoda Auto India Brand Director Zac Hollis said.

Honda Cars India reported a 12 percent increase in domestic sales last month at 6,784 units.

The maker of City and Amaze also exported 2,104 units last month.

The company had reported sale of 6,055 units in the domestic market and 918 units in overseas markets in July last year.

On the other hand, MG Motor India reported a 5 percent decline in retail sales at 4,013 units in July as production impacted by supply chain constraints. The company had registered retail sales of 4,225 units in the same month last year.

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Indian Car Buyers Lapping Up SUVs, High-Tech Features Like Never Before

India’s romance with SUVs is intensifying and automakers are fuelling the affair, having launched 36 such models in the last five years. Such is the craze for SUVs at present that waiting periods for some of the most popular models are stretching to over two years, and fresh orders are still flowing in. Car buyers are now willing to spend more on their personal mode of travel and are preferring top-end variants that come loaded with features such as a sunroof and connected technologies.

In India, where hatchbacks used to dominate the sales charts, entry-level and mid-sized sports utility vehicles (SUVs) are are growing in popularity, leading to more and more product launches in the segment. “The SUV segment has seen a major growth in the last few years. The SUV segment’s contribution, which was around 19 per cent of the industry, has now gone up to 40 per cent in 2021-22 and we see it growing further,” Maruti Suzuki India Senior Executive Director (Sales and Marketing) Shashank Srivastava told PTI.

One of the reasons for the growth of this segment has been customers’ liking for vehicles with a high stance and better road visibility, he added. With this increase in demand, the entry-level SUV segment became the largest in the domestic passenger vehicle market last fiscal, overtaking the premium hatchback vertical which has dominated the market since 2011.

Out of 30.68 lakh units last year, the entry-level SUVs’ share stood at 6.52 lakh units. It is also no surprise that the largest number of model launches in the last five years in the entire passenger vehicle segment has been in the compact and mid-level SUV space.

“Also, the new age millennials are preferring to buy high-end variants which come equipped with several comfort and convenience features. Preference for feature-loaded cars has gone up from 17 per cent in 2016-17 to 24 per cent in 2021-22. In some of our models, like the recently unveiled Brezza, the top variants account for 70 per cent of bookings,” Srivastava noted.

Studies show that spending will increase further now, and people are willing to spend more, he said.

Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles Managing Director Shailesh Chandra said differentiated design, evolving lifestyles, a shift from public to personal transport as a result of the pandemic, and a growing awareness of safety and convenience features are some of the factors that are driving growth in the passenger vehicles market.

“Customers today know exactly what they desire and we constantly strive to provide them with the same through our range, which is refreshed in short intervals, be it in terms of features, variants or brand new products,” he stated.

Chandra said the company’s strong comeback in FY21, reclaiming the third position in terms of volumes and being a challenger brand, has been thanks to a new range of cars and SUVs, which have been developed after studying the market in depth and understanding evolving customer needs.

Kia India Chief Sales Officer Myung-Sik Sohn said the increasing demand for SUVs among Indian customers clearly shows a strong preference towards bold, stylish vehicles with a tall stance. “We launched the Carens earlier this year and have already sold more than 30,000 units in less than five months,” he added.

Another trend the company is observing is that more and more customers are buying the top-end variants of cars, Sohn noted. “In fact, 47 per cent of the total Kias sold in India are top trims and this shows that customers today demand nothing but the best.” Customers today want connected features in their cars, and Kia now has more than two lakh connected cars on Indian roads with an activation rate of 97 percent, Sohn said.

Further, the modern digital savvy customer is increasingly scouting for the entire experience of owning a car with minimal physical contact, he added.

Toyota Kirloskar Motor Associate Vice President (Sales and Strategic Marketing) Atul Sood said the rapid pace of urbanisation and economic development is contributing to the demand for SUVs. Quite a number of models are already available in the segment in response to demand, thus making SUVs one of the strongest lineups in the car market today, he pointed out.

Sood noted that new launches and product refreshments always bring in excitement and added interest among customers. “We at Toyota have received an overwhelming response for all our new offerings, including the new Camry Hybrid and the new Glanza,” he said.

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Toyota Joins Redwood Materials’ EV Battery Recycling, Remanufacturing Initiative

US startup Redwood Materials on Tuesday said Japan’s Toyota Motor has become the latest auto industry giant to join its comprehensive electric vehicle (EV) battery recycling and remanufacturing initiative.

Redwood Materials, whose partners include automaker Ford Motor and EV battery maker Panasonic Holdings, is building a closed-loop battery ecosystem aimed at lowering EV costs by lessening dependence on imported materials while also reducing the environmental impact.

The five-year-old company has focused initial work at a 175-acre campus in northern Nevada, and plans to build another complex in southeastern United States, its chief executive and founder, JB Straubel, said in an interview.

The new facility would be able to supply Toyota‘s planned $1.3 billion (nearly Rs. 10,000 crore) battery plant in North Carolina, as well as Ford’s planned battery plants in Tennessee and Kentucky with SK On, a subsidiary of South Korea’s SK Innovation.

Redwood Materials is ramping up production of anode and cathode components to 100 gigawatt-hours by 2025, enough to supply batteries for 1 million EVs a year, then to 500 GWh by 2030, enough to supply 5 million EVs a year or more, said Straubel, a co-founder of Tesla.

Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk has said the EV maker expects to build up to 20 million EVs a year by 2030, while total global EV production including Tesla could reach as much as 40 million, industry forecasters said.

Straubel said Redwood Materials is having “various discussions” with Tesla, but has no deals to announce yet. Tesla’s partners also include Panasonic.

Toyota has been building hybrid electric vehicles under the Prius name for more than two decades. With a car’s average lifespan roughly 12 years, some early Prius models will be reaching the end of their useful lives.

Once out of service, their nickel metal hydride batteries can be recycled and materials such as nickel and copper reintroduced into the battery supply chain, where they can supplement raw materials from mines.

© Thomson Reuters 2022

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