All about Toyota

On May 1, Toyota Motor North America (TMNA) announced that it is renaming the recently redesigned TMNA R&D California office as its new North American Hydrogen Headquarters (H2HQ). 

H2HQ will drive North American-led hydrogen initiatives and support the localization of global hydrogen-related technologies and products that include light-duty fuel cell applications, heavy-duty fuel cell opportunities, stationary fuel cell power generation, port vehicle applications and more. 

The Gardena, California facility already includes Toyota’s largest dynamometer (1.2 MW), a scalable test bench for stationary applications, and a hydrogen fueling station capable of providing fuel for both light- and heavy-duty vehicles.

Construction has begun on a flexible microgrid that features energy sources available today, including a 230-kW solar photovoltaic system, a 1-MW stationary proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell generator, 325-kW solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC), and an onsite 500-kWh battery energy storage system. The microgrid is designed to support the campus’ energy needs, allowing it the ability to operate off-grid. The system is expected to be fully operational by 2026.

In 2023, Toyota Motor Corporation reorganized its hydrogen business in Japan to create its “Hydrogen Factory” to bring all hydrogen-related work under one location and accelerate development and production of fuel cell and hydrogen-related products. 

Toyota Motor Europe followed by announcing its own “Hydrogen Factory” to further grow Toyota’s hydrogen business and stimulate wider roll-out of hydrogen infrastructure across Europe.

(Toyota press release on May 1, 2024)

On April 30, Toyota Motor North America announced that it has entered a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with the U.S. Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory to investigate the development of a direct recycling process for lithium-ion batteries, prevalent in new EVs. 

The focus of the research will be on cathode chemistries made of nickel, manganese, and cobalt.

For the project, Toyota will provide both end-of-life and new Toyota batteries to Argonne, which will adapt and test its patent-pending direct recycling process with the batteries. 

Further, Toyota Research Institute of North America (TRINA)’s Materials Research Department will lend its expertise to validate this “proof-of-concept” study.

The collaborative project with Argonne is part of Toyota’s pursuit of designing a closed-loop battery ecosystem aimed at maximizing sustainability.

(Toyota press release on April 30, 2024)

On April 29, Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM), opened the bookings and the price of Grade G-AT of the Toyota Rumion along with reopening of E-CNG bookings. The price of the vehicle starts from INR 1.3 million with deliveries expected to commence from May 5 onwards. Toyota Rumion G-AT variant is powered by the 1.5-litre K series gasoline engine with a 6-speed automatic transmission. While the gasoline grade has a power output of 75.8 kW at 6,000 rpm and torque of 136.8 Nm at 4,400 rpm, the CNG grade boosts of 64.6 Kw output at 5,500 rpm and torque of 121.5 Nm at 4,200 rpm.
The G-AT variant comes with a 17.78 cm smartplay cast touchscreen audio system, i-Connect which offers remote control for climate, lock/unlock, hazard lights, etc. Its safety features include dual front airbags, ABS with EBD, hill hold, electronic stability program (ESP), etc.

Based on the Toyota Kirloskar Motor's press release