Isuzu
Motors and Honda R&D Co., Ltd., a R&D subsidiary of Honda Motor Co.,
Ltd., signed an agreement to undertake joint research on heavy-duty trucks,
utilising fuel cells (FC) as the powertrain.
Today, the automobile industry is
facing demand to reduce exhaust gas/carbon emissions from mobility products in
order to address the on-going global challenge of reducing humanity's
environmental footprint. Moreover, from the perspective of energy security, the
industry is required to take initiatives to promote utilisation of renewable
energy.
Under
these circumstances, as a commercial vehicle manufacturer committed to support
transportation, Isuzu has been striving to promote the utilisation of
low-carbon and sustainable energy. To
that end, Isuzu has been researching and developing various powertrains
including clean diesel engine, engines for natural gas vehicles (NGVs) and
electric vehicle (EV) powertrains, which accommodate a broad range of customer
needs and how vehicles are used. In parallel, Honda has been working toward the
realisation of a carbon-free society and, to this end, in addition to hybrid
and battery electric vehicles, Honda has been researching and developing fuel
cell vehicles (FCVs), the ultimate environmental technology, for more than 30
years.
There
are still some issues that need to be addressed to popularize the use of FC and
hydrogen energy, including issues related to cost and infrastructure. These
issues need to be tackled not only by individual companies but more expansively
through industry-wide initiatives. Against this backdrop, Isuzu was striving to
expand its lineup of next-generation powertrains for heavy-duty trucks, and
Honda was striving to expand application of its FC technologies beyond use for
passenger vehicles, which will represent progress toward the realization of a
hydrogen society. Sharing the same technological research goals, the two
companies reached an agreement to conduct joint research on heavy-duty FC
trucks.
Taking
advantage of the respective strengths each company has amassed over a long
period of time, i.e. Isuzu’s strengths in the development of heavy-duty trucks
and Honda’s strengths in the development of FC, the two companies will strive
to establish the foundation for basic technologies such as FC powertrain and
vehicle control technologies. Moreover, through this joint research, Isuzu and
Honda will not only realize clean, low-noise, low-vibration heavy-duty trucks
customers are waiting for, but also promote expansive discussions by the
industry so that the use of FC trucks and hydrogen energy can contribute to the
future prosperity of the logistics industry and all other industries in our
society and to the early realisation of hydrogen society.