CJPT in Japan, a technology development partnership company and JV involving Toyota Motor Corporation, Hino Motors Ltd (a Toyota subsidiary) and Isuzu Motors Ltd, has announced a programme to research a standard, commercial, swappable and rechargeable battery cartridge for use in electric vehicles.

The three Japanese firms will develop hydrogen fuel cell-powered light trucks for the mass market through their research joint venture Commercial Japan Partnership Technologies, established last year to “help address various challenges facing the transportation industry as well as contribute to the achievement of a carbon-neutral society.”

Toyota, Daihatsu and others are working together to study more efficient ways of sourcing biomass and producing bioethanol for use as a fuel.

Air Liquide SAS, based in Paris, CaetanoBus S.A., located in Porto, and Toyota Motor Corp, headquartered in Toyota, have signed a memorandum of understanding with the intention of developing integrated hydrogen solutions, including infrastructure and heavy-duty vehicles.

The Hydrogen Heavy Duty Vehicle Industry Group, comprised of hydrogen industry leaders Air Liquide, Hyundai, Nel Hydrogen, Nikola, Shell and Toyota, have signed agreements with Tatsuno Corporation and Transfer Oil S.p.A. to introduce a global standard of 70MPa (1 Megapascal (MPa) is a unit of pressure and is a 1,000,000 pascals; 1MPa = 10 bar) hydrogen refuelling components for heavy duty vehicles.

Woven Capital, the investment arm of Toyota Motor Company’s Tokyo, Japan-based Woven Planet Group Inc subsidiary, announced it has invested in Ridecell Inc, a specialist platform provider for IoT-driven automation for mobility and fleet businesses.

Automated Mapping Platform (AMP) is a connected crowdsourced software platform supporting the creation, development and distribution of high definition (HD) maps―a key enabler for smart and safe automated mobility.

Toyota plans to establish a new joint venture in China with Beijing SinoHytec Company, called Toyota Sinohytec Fuel Cell Company, to manufacture hydrogen fuel cell systems to power electric vehicles.

In April, Toyota and Aeon agreed to expand further their collaboration to develop systems that would help improve the efficiency of Japan’s logistics industry.

Toyota Motor Corporation of Toyota, Japan, together with the Japanese Red Cross Kumamoto Hospital in Kumamo, as of March 2021, has started testing of what it claims is the world’s first fuel cell electric vehicle mobile clinic that uses hydrogen to generate electricity for patient treatments during times of emergency and natural disasters.

Toyota Motor Corporation of Toyota, Japan has developed packaging to house fuel cell systems into compact modules, which, it says, it plans to begin selling it in the spring of 2021 or later. The new module is designed to be utilised easily by companies developing and manufacturing fuel cell systems for a wide variety of applications, including transport such as trucks, buses, trains and ships.

Isuzu Motors Ltd, Hino Motors Ltd and Toyota Motor Corporation, have agreed on a new partnership in commercial vehicles.