Hydrogen on Two Wheels

Akihabara News (Tokyo) — Toyota Motor and Kawasaki Motors have confirmed that they are working jointly to develop motorcycles that will be powered by hydrogen engines.

For Kawasaki, hydrogen-powered motorcycles offer a potential new market. The prototype engine, which has secretly been under development, is a modified version of the engine used for Kawasaki’s large motorcycle model, the Ninja H2.

The stakes are higher for Toyota, which has agreed to share its hydrogen engine technology with the motorcycle maker.

Toyota President Akio Toyoda has been on a mission to prove that battery electric vehicles are not the only option for future ground mobility. Toyoda is determined to preserve the global market for hybrid vehicles–which the company classifies at “electrified vehicles” in an apparent attempt to confuse policymakers and the public–as well as to suggest that hydrogen fuel cell vehicles or other technologies might also spread on a global scale.

Earlier this month at a demonstration event in Tochigi Prefecture, Toyoda declared that “there should be a variety of options to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. I hope the government will support the output by technological innovations like this, rather than stopping us with regulations.”

The creation of hydrogen-fueled Kawasaki motorcycles assists in furthering these goals.

Most environmental groups are highly critical of Toyota’s reluctance to fully embrace battery electric vehicles–especially its political lobbying efforts in Japan and overseas to prevent governments from adopting laws mandating the end of sales for internal combustion engines, which contribute to the climate crisis.

Proponents of Toyota’s approach point out that global demand for materials such as lithium, cobalt, and nickel needed to produce the needed car batteries far outstrips global supplies, and therefore Toyoda’s demand for alternative technologies is prudent and even necessary.

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