Toyota and Thailand’s CP Group partner on hydrogen fuel project.
Toyota Motor will work with Thai conglomerate Charoen Pokphand Group on a project to turn farm waste into fuel for hydrogen-powered cars as the Japanese carmaker insisted electric vehicles are “not the only option” for achieving carbon neutrality.
The project, announced, comes as the Japanese carmaker works to expand its presence in the Southeast Asian nation, where rivals including BYD of China and Tesla of the U.S. are going on the offensive amid a rapid shift to electric vehicles.
CP is Thailand’s biggest business group by revenue and operates across a wide range of industries, including retail, distribution and agriculture.
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The two corporate giants said they will work, among other things, on producing hydrogen using biogas from farm waste. This hydrogen will in turn be used by fuel cells in new delivery trucks that CP intends to introduce into its fleet to reduce emissions.
At a press conference to discuss the partnership, Toyota CEO Akio Toyoda reiterated his company’s policy of developing a wide range of alternative energy vehicles, arguing that different markets will take different roads to cutting emissions. This stance has drawn criticism from some investors as hindering efforts to fight climate change and slowing the adoption of EVs.
Akio Toyoda, Toyota CEO said.
The project is about thinking what we can all do to lower CO2 emissions in Thailand’s transport sector.
He warned against restricting options to achieving carbon neutrality. “Now is the time to broaden the range of options,” he said. “It is necessary for Thai users to have more options when it comes to carbon neutrality.”
“EVs are an important option [for decarbonization] but not the only option,” he continued.
Toyoda said the Thai project would serve as “a test case” of what happens when “the range of options is expanded, [and] there is some hope that it would play out in other countries.”
The CEO is currently in Thailand, where the company is competing in a 25-hour endurance motor race scheduled for this weekend.
As part of their partnership, Toyota and CP will also study ways to make logistics more efficient by using connectivity technology.
Participants in the partnership include True Leasing, which is in charge of CP’s transportation service business, and other Japanese carmakers like Isuzu Motors and Toyota subsidiary Hino Motors, which provide most of CP’s transportation, according to Toyota.
Dhanin Chearavanont, CP Senior Chairman applauded the initiative in a news release, saying his company would:
Welcome any companies that share the same carbon neutrality ambitions.
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Toyota and Thailand’s CP Group partner on hydrogen fuel project, Tokyo, December 14, 2022
