Toyota plans to debut ethanol car in Brazil in 2007

277 words
19 June 2006
Nikkei Weekly
English
(c) 2006 Nihon Keizai Shimbun, Inc. All rights reserved.

Toyota Motor Corp. said June 13 that it plans to release ethanol-powered vehicles in Brazil as early as next spring and that it will consider selling such vehicles in the U.S. as well.

The flex-fuel vehicles are to run on a mixture of gasoline and ethanol - produced from such grains as sugarcane - or on ethanol alone. The most likely plan is for the automaker to roll out an ethanol-powered version of the Corolla sedan it manufactures in Brazil.

Toyota plans to develop related technologies, such as for controlling combustion, that are geared to the characteristics of ethanol. This is all part of the automaker's plan to promote environment-friendly vehicles.

In Brazil, a major producer of sugarcane, ethanol is cheaper than gasoline. Ethanol-ready models accounted for more than half the 1.7 million new vehicles sold there in 2005.

The U.S. has announced a plan to boost ethanol use as a means of reducing its dependence on crude oil. General Motors plans to sell about 400,000 ethanol vehicles in North America next year.

In preparation for the worldwide adoption of this plant-based fuel, Toyota made it possible for all of its gasoline engines to burn fuel that is 10% ethanol. But other automakers, such as GM and Germany's Volkswagen AG, led in the development of vehicles that can run on 100% ethanol.

As another way to promote Earth-friendly vehicles, Toyota said it plans to double its lineup of gasoline-electric hybrid vehicles, now at seven, by the early 2010s.

(The Nikkei Weekly 06/19/2006 Edition)

 

What, if any, are the drawbacks of ethanol as a fuel source. I know they are using it a lot in the Midwest. In CA there is only one station that sells the mostly ethanol mix.

 

In the bigger picture, the problem with ethanol is that one day we will have to choose between growing plants for food or fuel. There is only so much land, ya know?

 

I have heard that they are going to start using bio mass rather than grain. Like corn stocks rather than corn. It would seem like a terrible waste of food if they kept using corn................

 

Well, we (USA) are going to continue to use more and more biomass and waste plant material. A great idea being discussed is using a high oil-yielding algae, which would be extremely renewable, not take up a lot of space, and most importantly, not compete with food sources.

Back to biomass, unfortunatly, there will come a time when the plant waste material is not enough to keep up with the demand (especially when we start running higher and higher percentages of ethanol.

Brazil had the right ides; while we were busy mapping the human genome, they mapped the sugar genome. They might even be able to totally eliminate traditional based fuels from their country NEXT YEAR. That would be quite an accomplishment.