Toyota's alternative fuel efforts move beyond hybrids to ethanol in Brazil and GTL diesels in Europe
Not to be one-upped by Honda, CNET is reporting that the leader in hybrid technology, Toyota, will release a flex-fuel ethanol/gasoline capable car in Brazil during the Spring of 2007. The vehicle model and price have yet to be disclosed, but if they are planning to match Honda's efforts we shouldn't be surprised to see them offer a converted version of either the Corolla or Yaris or both. The vehicles should be capable of running on any blend of ethanol and gasoline, even E100.
The article also states that Toyota has started testing gas-to-liquid (GTL) fuel cars in Europe. Converted from natural gas, GTL offers significantly reduced emissions for diesels using a process similar coal liquefaction. The cost, however, for GTL production is expensive as it takes roughly 10,000 cubic feet of natural gas to produce a barrel of oil.
[Source: CNET]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Keith 6:50AM (10/11/2006)
It will also provide the technology and components for auto competitor Nissan's first hybrids, coming in the 2007 model lineup.
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Alexandre Souza 8:04AM (10/11/2006)
So what is the matter? Almost all cars in Brazil are flex-fuel-able! :oP
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