scionlife

The Nihon Keizai Shimbun reports that Toyota Motor plans to introduce E85 flexible-fuel vehicles in North America starting with the Tundra pickup truck as early as 2008. Currently, all of Toyota’s gasoline engines can run on fuel that contains 10% ethanol.

Toyota is also considering rolling out a gasoline-electric hybrid version of the Tundra in North America around 2010, according to the report.

Toyota plans to release a Corolla sedan that runs on ethanol in Brazil in early 2007. Toyota will apply the fuel-control technology used in that vehicle to models sold in North America.

Toyota will probably produce the flex-fuel Tundra either at its Indiana plant or a Texas site that is scheduled to open later this month. Output is estimated at several tens of thousands.

GM, Ford and DaimlerChrysler have already pledged to boost output of E85 models to a combined 2 million units in the US by 2010.

http://www.greencarcongress.com/2006..._toyota_t.html

badbasic

isnt E85 difficult to come by here in the us? i heard that toyota suspended the E85 models because of an unstable supply.i know that toyota is planning on introducing E85 in the Brazilian market next year.

Djbombsquad

why not biodieseal

Kiyoaki

Thanks for the news!

E85 is easy to find if you know where to find it. And I suppose if you had to know where it is, you'd know where it is. There are a lot of contractors who are probably clamoring for the flex fuel stuff. Anything to shave business expenses, especially with construction market slowing.

The hybrid sounds promising - though I wonder how long it will take Toyota to get their gear moving when the German low sulfur diesel entrants start ramping up. If Daimler Chrysler doesn't sell Chrysler off, might we see a Dodge pickup that gets 20 -30mpg? Toyota would prolly want to compete with that.

Then again, 2010 models are only three years off....

Speculation is fun and fiction! : )

R2D2

E85 seems like a quick fix to something that can't be fixed easily ~ The Earth.
If it were up to me, I'd continue concentrating my research on Hydrogen technology. Once platinum can be substituted it should be a LOT more feasible to the mainstream. Keep up the R&D in that department Toyota!

scionofPCFL

A typical McDonalds makes about 4 gallons of grease/day. It takes them serving 1000 customers to get that much. How many of those 1000 people can drive around for the day on that 4 gal?

Don't get me wrong, it's a nice, novel idea, but in no could it be considered something mass marketed.

scionofPCFL

In case you haven't figured it out, E85 is all about marketing and fleet sales. Both of which are key for Toyota to be taken seriously in the full-size truck segment. In otherwords, for the average driver, it's not going to mean much of anything, it's only about putting all of the pieces of the puzzle together in order to seriously take away Ford and GM's 1.8 million full size truck sales/year.

phatcyclist

When is Toyota bringing diesel Tundras/Corollas and the like over here? Now that we have acceptable fuel for them, why wouldn't they? I would love to have a Yaris diesel that got 60 mpg...

JUMBO

I agree that the E85 thing is specifically to speak to the fleet and business buyer. E85 is typically more expensive, and does not give as good of performance as normal fuel, though there are instances where it does outperform gas.

E85 exists as a subsidy to corn growers. And its bad for the economy. The more corn used in fuel production means that corn for animal feed just got more expensive, which means that our meat and food just got more expnesive.

Djbombsquad

meat can be 1000's of dollars. Does not bother me. I stoped eating meat due to health reasons. Worste than cigrates any how.

Whocares05050

Thanks for the laugh

Djbombsquad

Do a google search. I am not going to get in to this but do a google search on why meat is bad for your health. Meat contains absolutely nothing - no protein, vitamins or minerals once you cook it. The list of diseases known to be associated with meat, which are commoner among meat eaters, looks like the index of a medical textbook.
Add to those hazards the fact that if you eat meat you may be consuming hormones, drugs and other chemicals that have been fed to the animals before they were killed and you can see the extent of the danger. No one knows precisely what effect eating the hormones in meat is likely to have on your health. Some farmers use tranquillisers to keep animals calm. Others routinely use antibiotics so that their animals do not develop infections. When you eat meat you are, inevitably, eating those drugs.

Serialk1llr

^^^ Just another reason why I eat mine rare

BOT, I think some of the flex fuel/bisodisel opponents are missing a part of the argument I think a lot of 'average joe consumers' might be interested in - no reliance (or less) on imported petrol. This would, in theory, free up a LOT of money/political leverage. I think the benefits are certainly there to take advantage of in this time.

So, hooray for Toyota making more flex fuel vehicles.

Serialk1llr

Here is something for you guys to chew on.

http://www.eere.energy.gov/afdc/reso...r_09_01_05.pdf

phatcyclist

I don't eat much meat, usually fish if anything. When I go hunting though, I try and get fresh vinison, that stuff is delicious.




I'll need to thumb through that, haven't read up much on the subject since GM/Ford were really running the show with flex fuel, and I wouldn't buy either.

JUMBO

The cold, hard numbers show that E85 is doing next-to-nothing to relieve us of our dependance on foreign oil. But as with any political issue - it's not what your saying, but how you say it. The 'perception' is that E85 is good, so that's why the car manufacturers are getting on board.

Frankly, I'm a little surprised and disappointed that Toyota is succumbing. They've always done a good job of going their own way and letting the rest of the market follow along.

lfunston

Making a vehicle flex fuel is relatively inexpensive (at the factory) and most cars made now in Brazil are flex-fuel (ethanol E-85) capable. In fact, there is a company called flextek making somekind of box that communicates with the computer to change engine timing for ethanol that snaps straight on in half and hour.

Finding E85 in the US except in the midwest is challenging, and there its industrial ag corn ethanol which is marginal in terms of energy and greenhouse gas savings, but does help get us off the middle-eastern juice. If we can make it "cellulocic" off ag waste and animal methane, its a great environmental option.