Future doesn’t have be silent.
It has been exaggerated that the death of the internal combustion engine is imminent. We are moving towards an electric era. But the good ol’ ICE will not give up. The Volkswagen Group was already playing with synthetic fuels before “Dieselgate” existed. It’s not the only company trying to preserve the “noisy powertrain”.
Toyota is an example. Although the Mirai may not be the most interesting car in the world it is the cleanest, since water is the only thing that comes out of the exhaust tip. The JDM-spec Corolla Sport hatchback uses hydrogen as its mid-sized sedan. However, it still has a combustion engine. It uses 100% pure hydrogen fuel, not even one drop of gasoline.
The hydrogen engine produces almost zero CO2 emissions during operation, “except for the combustion a small amount of engine oil while driving.” Toyota continues to state that these engines “burn hydrogen while taking oxygen in the atmosphere, just like gasoline engines. A certain amount of NOx is also created during the process.”
The ICE is kept alive so the Corolla hatch can still produce a good engine sound while being almost carbon neutral. This prototype, which is still in development, features a turbocharged 1.6-liter 3-cylinder engine. It gets its power from renewable energy generated at Japan’s Fukushima Hydrogen Energy Research Field.
Although it isn’t an inline-six engine or V8 song it produces a decent sound considering that it is only a three-pot. Hiroaki Ichiura, a racing driver, said that the engine behaves almost like a regular gasoline engine. It is a normal engine. If I wasn’t told, I would probably believe that this is one engine.
The Corolla Sport will be on display next month, as it is being tested in a 24-hour endurance race as part the Super Taikyu Series. This compact hatchback is unique not only because of its unique engine but also because it has an all-wheel-drive system that was adapted from the GR Yaris. Rumours of a -GR Corolla with its AWD system and three-cylinder turbo engine have circulated, but Toyota is keeping it quiet for now.