Kawasaki to Develop Hydrogen Engines with Toyota

[advrider]

Kawasaki has been charging hard towards greener technologies for the future of their motorcycles, as evidenced by their development of numerous electric and hybrid motorcycles, along with an announcement last year of their intention to collaborate on research into alternative fuels for internal combustion engines. That announcement was a joint effort between Kawasaki, Yamaha, Mazda, Subaru, and Toyota, with the aim of carbon neutrality. Fast forward to September, 2022, and Kawasaki and Toyota together moved from intention to action when they signed an agreement to develop hydrogen engines for motorcycles.

The new agreement was kicked off when Akio Toyoda, grandson of Toyota Motors founder Kiichiro Toyoda and current president of the company, rode an ATV powered by a hydrogen engine at the Mobility Resort Motegi (formerly Twin Ring Motegi). The engine was originally developed by Kawasaki, Toyota, and Denso for use in Kawasaki motorcycles, and is based on the Ninja H2 architecture.

Although Team Green has been a leader in developing sustainable alternatives compared to other mainstream motorcycle manufacturers, they are a tiny player when compared to global automotive giant Toyota, so the benefits to Kawasaki with this agreement are fairly obvious. Over at Toyota, the hope is that agreements such as this will speed development of alternative fuel vehicles, both cars and motorcycles, which should increase both public acceptance and government support.

While Kawasaki has declared it will be all-electric by 2035, this agreement shows that they are still exploring alternative fuels for internal combustion engines (ICE) that will reduce or eliminate harmful emissions. While a hydrogen fuel cell vehicle uses hydrogen in a chemical reaction to generate electricity to power an electric motor, hydrogen can also be used as a fuel in a modified ICE, and produces zero carbon emissions at the tailpipe. The big advantage in using hydrogen as a ICE fuel in this manner is that the tooling and technology involved are not significantly different from conventional engines, and the experience for the rider or driver is very similar as well.

Producing zero CO2 at the tailpipe is an improvement over conventional engines, and being able to fill a tank with hydrogen in much the same way as we do now with regular fuel is a definite advantage over battery electric vehicles. However, the production of hydrogen is still currently 95 percent from fossil fuels, and the cleaner alternatives rely on electricity, so there is still some ways to go before the technology can be truly zero emissions.

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