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Toyota, Daimler Truck, Hino and Mitsubishi Fuso join forces

TOKYO — German truck maker Daimler, JapanÂ’s top automaker Toyota and two other automakers said Tuesday they will work together on new technologies, including using hydrogen fuel, to help fight climate change. The companies said Mitsubishi Fuso Truck and Bus Corp., whose top stakeholder is Daimler Truck, and Hino Motors, the truck maker in the Toyota group, will merge. Daimler Truck and Toyota Motor Corp. will equally invest in the holding company of the Mitsubishi-Hino merger, they said without giving a dollar amount for the deal. The companies plan to cooperate in reducing carbon emissions and developing other technologies such as autonomous driving, net-connected services and electric vehicles. “This collaboration among our four companies is a partnership for creating the future of commercial vehicles in Japan and the future of a ‘mobility society,Â’ said Toyota Motor Corp. Chief Executive Koji Sato. The two truck companies will work on commercial vehicle development, procurement and production to become globally competitive, the executives said. “We at Daimler Truck are very proud of our products, because trucks and buses keep the world moving. And soon they will even do so with zero emissions,” said Daimler Truck Chief Executive Martin Daum. “TodayÂ’s announcement is a crucial step in making that future work economically and in leading sustainable transportation.” Automakers are rushing to keep up with the global shift toward less polluting vehicles and to help in other ways to combat climate change. Commercial vehicles like trucks and buses are major contributors to auto emissions. In some cases rivals are joining forces to gain a a competitive edge and cut costs through “economies of scale” of by sharing knowledge and resources. “It is hard to go at it alone. Working together is crucial,” Sato said, Fuel cells power ToyotaÂ’s buses in Japan but its strength has been in hybrids, which have both electric motors like EVs and gasoline engines. Consumer acceptance of battery powered EVs has come faster than expected, Toyota officials say, and the company is hard at work on rolling out EVs in various markets. Details of the merger, including shareholding ratios, the company name and its structure will be worked out over the next 18 months, the companies said. They aim to sign a definitive agreement by early next year and close the transaction by the end of 2024. The deal still needs shareholdersÂ’ and regulatory approval.

Carmakers, NHTSA to unveil auto-emergency braking agreement tomorrow

Happy St. Patrick's Day Eve. Tomorrow, there will be green beer, corned beef and cabbage, and automatic emergency braking for all. Weird combo, we know. But on St. Patty's we can expect an official announcement from a pact of automakers making auto-braking systems standard equipment by 2022. That's per a report from Reuters, which cites three sources familiar with the plans. Originally announced in September 2015 by 10 automakers and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the agreement is expected to be even larger when the details are unveiled tomorrow. According to Reuters, the manufacturers of 99 percent of the US domestic market's vehicles will be represented by the new agreement. It's believed that standard AEB systems could prevent thousands of accidents across the country. Expect more on the official announcement when it's made. Related Video:

Bibendum 2014: Former EU President says Toyota could lose 100,000 euros per hydrogen FCV sedan

Pat Cox does not work for Toyota and we don't think he has any secret inside information. Still, he's the former President of the European Parliament and the current high level coordinator for TransEuropean Network, so when he says Toyota is likely going to lose between 50,000 and 100,000 euros ($66,000 and $133,000) on each of the hydrogen-powered FCV sedans it will sell next year, it's worth noting. That was just one highlight of Cox's presentation at the 2014 Michelin Challenge Bibendum in Chengdu, China today, which addressed the main problem of using more H2 in transportation: cost. The EU has a tremendous incentive to find an alternative to fossil fuels, since Europe today is 94 percent dependent on oil for its transportation sector and 84 percent of that 94 percent dependency is imported oil. The tab for that costs the EU a billion euros a day, Cox said, on top of the environmental costs. To encourage a shift away from petroleum, European Directive 2014/94 requires each member state to develop national policy frameworks for the market development of alternative fuels and their infrastructure. For the member states that choose to fulfill 2014/94 by developing a hydrogen market – and to be clear, Cox said, it's not an EU diktat that they do so, since a number of other alternatives are also allowed – the aim is to have things in place by the end of 2025. The plans don't even have to be submitted until the end of 2016. The long lead time is due to a quirk in a hydrogen economy. In hydrogen infrastructure, "the first-mover cost is not the first-mover advantage, but the firstmover disadvantage." – Pat Cox In deploying a hydrogen infrastructure, Cox said, "the first-mover cost is not the first-mover advantage, but the first-mover disadvantage, and high risk." That's why the EU and member states will financially support the early stages, but everyone agrees that "if this is to work, it will have to be ultimately and essentially a commercially viable and commercially driven infrastructure roll-out." Since 1986, European Union research programs have spent 550 million euros on hydrogen-related and fuel-cell-related research, including methods of hydrogen storage and distribution as well as improved fuel cells vehicles, Cox said. Expensive problems remain to be solved. At a conference in Berlin, Germany this past summer, Cox said, the unit cost of the refueling stations was identified as the main problem.