Today Toyota, Subaru, and Mazda announced that they are each developing a new hybrid system in pursuit of a carbon-neutral future. During a “multi-pathway” workshop organised today, each company showcased its hybrid developments with Toyota showcasing a new engine – a low-displacement inline-4 mill that worked with a hybrid drive.
Toyota’s in-development program is a new low-displacement inline-4 engine that is designed to work harmoniously in an electrified drive system. During a presentation by Toyota’s Chief Technical Officer, a 1.5L inline-4 engine and a 2.0L inline-4 engine were shown next to each other – both of which are under development.
As for why an inline-4 engine is chosen as the base of development, Toyota says that the inline-4 engine has proven to be a flexible powertrain that can support a diverse range of products. One example shown by Toyota in its presentation slide is the “S” series inline-4 engine. The slide depicted engines like the 3S-FE, 3S-GE, and 3S-GTE which have been proven to be applicable in a wide range of products.
During the presentation, Toyota Motor Corporation President, Member of the Board of Directors, and CEO, Koji Sato mentioned that the new hybrid powertrain by the company was developed on two development concepts. The first is the pursuit of greater efficiency and compactness with an electric drive system. The second is the diversification of fuels which means these new engines should be able to run on biofuels and e-fuels.
A by-product of the pursuit of compactness is the flexibility of mounting this new powertrain. It will also allow for a lower hood which should aid in aerodynamics which is crucial to achieve maximum efficiency in a vehicle.
Toyota is already pursuing a multi-pathway strategy and has even experimented with alternative fuels in internal combustion engines. The company has even built racecars that run on hydrogen as a fuel in internal combustion engines. This new hybrid engine from Toyota will pilot a new series of engines from the Japanese carmaker.
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In-development 1.5-litre 4-cylinder engine
In-development 2.0-litre 4-cylinder engine
