Toyota Ponders The Manufacture Of Diesel Hybrids

As various automakers vie to create the best electric vehicles, Toyota remains hesitant about the market’s complete shift to battery-powered cars. Instead, the Japanese automotive giant is pursuing a different direction: the development of diesel hybrids.

Toyota sees an opportunity to improve car efficiency by combining diesel engines with hybrid technology. Despite the global move away from diesel after Volkswagen’s Dieselgate, the company believes that there is still room for this type of engine, especially in markets where diesel engines are still doing well.

The diesel engine is, of course, very important for the Land Cruiser,” explained Keita Moritsu, Toyota’s chief engineer. At the same time, he acknowledges the dominance of gasoline in major markets such as the US and China.

That’s why we focused on our hybrid system with a gasoline engine. But in the future, the global situation could change. Therefore, we have to pay attention to all hybrid and electrification systems equally, Moritsu added.

Creating a diesel hybrid is not an easy task. According to Russell Tomlinson, Toyota’s Australian head of research, evaluation, and training, the engineering hurdles are significant.

With a diesel, you already get a lot of torque at low revs, so the electric motor has to work in the mid-range to support the diesel engine, he explained.

Harmonizing those systems and overcoming engineering challenges is no small task.

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