At a time when the world’s focus is squarely on personal mobility and its shift away from fossil fuels towards renewable energy sources, four Japanese auto companies — Toyota Motor Corporation, Isuzu Motors, Suzuki Motor Corporation, and Daihatsu Motor — have formed an alliance to try and find solutions for current commercial vehicle transportation challenges, with the aim of accelerating the drive towards a carbon-neutral society.
Japan’s biggest automakers come together to achieve carbon neutrality in Asia
The alliance, called the Commercial Japan Partnership Technologies Corporation (CJPT), is unique, in that it is outside the glamourous ring-light surrounding passenger electric vehicles and hybrids, and yet aims to contribute significantly to reducing the carbon footprint from tailpipe emissions. Toyota, one of the pioneers of electrification, has long been a proponent of technology agnosticism when it comes to lowering emissions, and as part of the alliance, it is promoting multiple alternatives to CVs with internal combustion engines (ICE).
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To this effect, the company showcased a few concept models of commercial vehicles that run on varied electrified powertrain platforms in Bangkok earlier last week. A selection of these was offered for short test drive experiences at the sidelines of the recently concluded Bangkok International Motor Show.
“We would like to contribute to improving the quality of life of people in Asia with various low-fuel consumption and high-efficiency vehicles, including small ICE vans, hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs), battery electric vehicles (BEVs) and fuel-cell electric vehicles (FCEVs),” said Hiroki Nakajima, president of CJPT.
‘No India plan yet’
“We believe that we must start in Thailand because the utilisation of commercial vehicles (CVs) is very high over here. Based on our understanding of this market, we would like to look at what is possible in other countries,” said Pras Ganesh, Asia Region Representative, CJPT. Ganesh is also the Executive Vice President — People and Business Transformation Group, Toyota Daihatsu Engineering and Manufacturing Co Ltd.
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“Right now, we don’t have a concrete plan for India. We are still studying. Our intention is for all of Asia. From cab aggregators to the farming space and public transport — multiple areas could be considered (for partnerships). We are always looking at what is attractive and what is possible,” Ganesh told businessline.
When asked if the CJPT could also venture into the passenger vehicle (PV) space, Ganesh said the commercial basket has a similar usage pattern — energy source can be clearly identified, infrastructure can be more regulated and there are long-haul vehicles, distribution vehicles, and last-mile delivery. “We believe we have all the elements (in the commercial space) to showcase the potential of what is possible. This does not mean that each of the companies in CJPT has no intention of carbon neutrality in the PV space. We are equally committed to that cause,” he told businessline.
“Once we start looking at other countries, we will find who is the most appropriate partner and try to scale it up. One of our partners is Suzuki, which has a huge presence in India. We will try to leverage the strength of each of our partner companies,” he added.
‘Swiss knife of energy’
On the national green hydrogen policy, Ganesh said the Indian government is probably the most aggressive and bullish on hydrogen. “We are grateful for the government’s strong attention to this activity. We are happy in terms of the broad direction, and we are looking at mobility and non-mobility solutions, and how we can contribute to the cause in India.”
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Regarding the high cost of producing hydrogen, Hirofumi Ota, Project General Manager of CJPT Planning Division, said, “The best way to reduce the cost of hydrogen is to increase its consumption, and carmakers and hydrogen producers alone cannot do that. We need to produce more hydrogen on a global level so that the price can come down.”
Ganesh added, “The reason why we are bullish on hydrogen is that it is a very attractive energy source. There are multiple use cases, and we call it the Swiss-knife of energy. Furthermore, hydrogen is the only way we can decarbonise certain industries. We weren’t talking about battery electric vehicles (BEVs) 10 years ago but that’s not the case anymore. Technologies change, we must adapt to them and not close doors.”
The models exhibited at the event included Toyota Sora (a fuel cell buss), Hino FCEV heavy duty truck, Isuzu & Toyota FCEV light duty truck, Toyota Granace FCEV, Toyota LPG-HEV taxi concept, Suzuki Every small van, Daihatsu Hijet small van, and Toyota e-Palette.
Know the company
CJPT was established in April 2021 to accelerate the implementation and popularisation of CASE technologies towards solving transportation challenges and achieving a carbon-neutral society. It collaborated with the Charoen Pokphand (CP) group in December 2022 with the aim of expanding partnerships in Asia — in energy supply, mobility solutions, and data solutions. The company has a market capitalisation of ¥10 million (approximately ₹62 lakh) with 70 per cent capital structure from Toyota and 10 per cent each from Isuzu, Suzuki, and Daihatsu.
The correspondent was in Bangkok at the invitation of Toyota Kirloskar Motor