ADVERTISEMENT
Manila Bulletin devider Drive devider Racing with carbon neutral fuels

Racing with carbon neutral fuels

Published Dec 23, 2022 12:07 pm
ORC Rookie GR86 CNF Concept

Toyota and Rookie Racing’s mission to make motorsports clean

Racing is not always seen as the most environmentally venture, but Toyota Motor Corporation hopes to change that. In the recent Idemitsu 1500 Super Endurance 2022 in Thailand, Toyota and Rookie Racing Co., Ltd. entered two vehicles to test the viability of racing with more environmentally-friendly engines and fuels.

Hosted at the Chang International Circuit in Thailand, the Idemitsu 1500 is a 25-hour endurance race where vehicles are expected to run continuously. The participation will not be for the entire 25-hours but will be for the first and last few hours of the race.

ORC Rookie GR Corolla H2 concept

The vehicles they will be fielding are an ORC Rookie GR Corolla H2 concept, powered by a hydrogen combustion engine; and an ORC Rookie GR86 CNF Concept, powered by synthetic fuels produced from carbon dioxide and hydrogen. These are called carbon-neutral fuels because hydrogen engines emit zero CO2 when in use. As for synthetic fuels, the amount of CO2 generated when combusting them equals that recovered when producing the fuels.

In addition, one of the Toyota Gazoo Racing Team Thailand’s vehicles is also going to run on carbon-neutral fuels. Starting with participation in the Thailand 25H Endurance Race, Rookie Racing and Toyota, hope to enter more races to test the development of carbon neutral technologies in Asia through motorsports.

GR Yaris H2 hydrogen engine vehicle

Racing with carbon neutral fuels isn’t new for Toyota. Rookie Racing and Toyota participated in the Super Taikyu series in Japan midway through the 2021 season, with a hydrogen-powered Corolla. This race in Thailand will be the first time for both vehicles to compete in a race outside of Japan. During the ninth round of the World Rally Championship (WRC) in Ypres in August and the 13th round of the WRC in Japan in November, Rookie Racing and Toyota ran a demonstration of the GR Yaris H2 hydrogen engine vehicle under test development.

These efforts are also actively participated in by no less than the President of Toyota Motor Corporation, Akio Toyoda. He is also the founder and team owner of Rookie Racing and participates under driver name “Morizo”. Morizo also drives the vehicle to provide its safety and performance credentials.

Liquid hydrogen fuel for the ORC Rookie GR Corolla H2 concept.

By entering these races with unique engines and fuels, Toyota hopes to accelerate efforts towards "producing," "transporting," and "using" hydrogen, together with like-minded partners inside and outside the industry with the aim of helping to achieve a true carbon neutral society.

First racing, then road cars

ORC Rookie GR Corolla H2 concept

The aim is to demonstrate the potential of hydrogen and synthetic fuels as viable options for achieving carbon neutrality under grueling racing and rally conditions. These efforts are hoped to aid in the development of their applications on common roads and serve as another alternative to the use of fossil fuels.

While Toyota already offers low emission vehicles like hydrogen, fuel cell, and fully-electric models, it continues to research on alternate means of powering vehicles to aid in the challenge of expanding clean energy options. This includes the use of internal combustion engines, but with greener fuel sources to reduce carbon emissions.

GR Yaris H2 hydrogen engine vehicle

Toyota is committed to global carbon neutrality by 2050 in a practical and sustainable manner while also delivering Mobility for All.

Toyota is developing and bringing a full line-up of electrified vehicles to Asian markets to expand carbon neutral and carbon reducing options for the customer, including hybrid electric, plug-in hybrid electric, battery electric vehicles, and hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles. These options provide choices to meet the diverse economic realities of customers, the available energy sources, charging infrastructure readiness, industrial policies and varied customer mobility needs in each Country.

Hydrogen fuel for the race cars at the track.

This approach will help achieve accessible electrification at scale and speed, supporting each country’s prioritized national objectives, including carbon neutrality, air quality improvement, oil import reduction, industrial development and sustainable employment while providing realistic mobility solutions. In this regard Toyota aims to work towards carbon neutrality, based on the fundamental principles of “Mobility for All” wherein there is a goal to "Leave No One Behind".

Rookie Racing and Toyota’s participation in the Buriram race, showcases the new technologies of hydrogen engine and synthetic fuel vehicles within the region. Furthermore, it solidifies Toyota’s commitment to further expand and accelerate the development of carbon neutral mobility options to Asia, through motorsports.

Related Tags

Toyota Rookie Racing hydrogen combustion alternative fuels
ADVERTISEMENT
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1561_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1562_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1563_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}

{{ articles_filter_1564_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.mb-article-details { position: relative; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview, .mb-article-details .article-body-summary{ font-size: 17px; line-height: 30px; font-family: "Libre Caslon Text", serif; color: #000; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview iframe , .mb-article-details .article-body-summary iframe{ width: 100%; margin: auto; } .read-more-background { background: linear-gradient(180deg, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0) 13.75%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0.8) 30.79%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000) 72.5%); position: absolute; height: 200px; width: 100%; bottom: 0; display: flex; justify-content: center; align-items: center; padding: 0; } .read-more-background a{ color: #000; } .read-more-btn { padding: 17px 45px; font-family: Inter; font-weight: 700; font-size: 18px; line-height: 16px; text-align: center; vertical-align: middle; border: 1px solid black; background-color: white; } .hidden { display: none; }
function initializeAllSwipers() { // Get all hidden inputs with cms_article_id document.querySelectorAll('[id^="cms_article_id_"]').forEach(function (input) { const cmsArticleId = input.value; const articleSelector = '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .body_images'; const swiperElement = document.querySelector(articleSelector); if (swiperElement && !swiperElement.classList.contains('swiper-initialized')) { new Swiper(articleSelector, { loop: true, pagination: false, navigation: { nextEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-next', prevEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-prev', }, }); } }); } setTimeout(initializeAllSwipers, 3000); const intersectionObserver = new IntersectionObserver( (entries) => { entries.forEach((entry) => { if (entry.isIntersecting) { const newUrl = entry.target.getAttribute("data-url"); if (newUrl) { history.pushState(null, null, newUrl); let article = entry.target; // Extract metadata const author = article.querySelector('.author-section').textContent.replace('By', '').trim(); const section = article.querySelector('.section-info ').textContent.replace(' ', ' '); const title = article.querySelector('.article-title h1').textContent; // Parse URL for Chartbeat path format const parsedUrl = new URL(newUrl, window.location.origin); const cleanUrl = parsedUrl.host + parsedUrl.pathname; // Update Chartbeat configuration if (typeof window._sf_async_config !== 'undefined') { window._sf_async_config.path = cleanUrl; window._sf_async_config.sections = section; window._sf_async_config.authors = author; } // Track virtual page view with Chartbeat if (typeof pSUPERFLY !== 'undefined' && typeof pSUPERFLY.virtualPage === 'function') { try { pSUPERFLY.virtualPage({ path: cleanUrl, title: title, sections: section, authors: author }); } catch (error) { console.error('ping error', error); } } // Optional: Update document title if (title && title !== document.title) { document.title = title; } } } }); }, { threshold: 0.1 } ); function showArticleBody(button) { const article = button.closest("article"); const summary = article.querySelector(".article-body-summary"); const body = article.querySelector(".article-body-preview"); const readMoreSection = article.querySelector(".read-more-background"); // Hide summary and read-more section summary.style.display = "none"; readMoreSection.style.display = "none"; // Show the full article body body.classList.remove("hidden"); } document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", () => { let loadCount = 0; // Track how many times articles are loaded const offset = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10]; // Offset values const currentUrl = window.location.pathname.substring(1); let isLoading = false; // Prevent multiple calls if (!currentUrl) { console.log("Current URL is invalid."); return; } const sentinel = document.getElementById("load-more-sentinel"); if (!sentinel) { console.log("Sentinel element not found."); return; } function isSentinelVisible() { const rect = sentinel.getBoundingClientRect(); return ( rect.top < window.innerHeight && rect.bottom >= 0 ); } function onScroll() { if (isLoading) return; if (isSentinelVisible()) { if (loadCount >= offset.length) { console.log("Maximum load attempts reached."); window.removeEventListener("scroll", onScroll); return; } isLoading = true; const currentOffset = offset[loadCount]; window.loadMoreItems().then(() => { let article = document.querySelector('#widget_1690 > div:nth-last-of-type(2) article'); intersectionObserver.observe(article) loadCount++; }).catch(error => { console.error("Error loading more items:", error); }).finally(() => { isLoading = false; }); } } window.addEventListener("scroll", onScroll); });
Join Our Newsletters

Sign up by email to receive news.

© 2025 Manila Bulletin The Nation's Leading Newspaper. All Rights Reserved.