JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – As the worldwide mobility partner of the International Olympic Committee and the International Paralympic Committee for Paris 2024, vehicle manufacturer Toyota is looking to provide sustainable transport solutions for athletes, officials, volunteers, accredited media and spectators.

Overall, Toyota aims to halve vehicle carbon emissions at the Paris 2024 Games compared with those of previous Games, while ensuring much of the total Toyota Olympic fleet will be produced in Europe, including 37% in France, contributing to the vision of a locally sourced Olympic and Paralympic Games.

As part of its plans, Toyota will be deploying 500 Mirai passenger fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) and showcasing up to ten different hydrogen mobility applications, ranging from buses and trucks to boats and forklifts.

All will demonstrate the potential of a hydrogen-powered society which will be on show in Toyota’s integration of its fuel cell technology with other partners, the World Platinum Investment Council stated in a release to Mining Weekly on November 8.

Among the hydrogen applications to be displayed at Paris 2024 are two FCEV city buses, each able to accommodate an entire wheelchair team, having been converted specifically for the occasion, with accessibility and team spirit in mind.

Further demonstrating how platinum-based fuel cells can be used to power all modes of transport, Toyota is using its fuel cell technology to develop a light-duty FCEV truck for the mass market with its partners Isuzu, Hino and Commercial Japan Partnership Technologies Corporation.

Light-duty trucks are often used for distribution by supermarket chains and convenience stores.

In addition to being equipped with refrigeration and freezing functions, they are required to drive long distances over extended hours to perform multiple delivery operations in one day.

They must also meet requirements such as fast refuelling. The use of hydrogen fuel cell technology, which produces zero carbon dioxide emissions while driving, is considered highly effective under such operating conditions.

CIRCULAR ECONOMY

Toyota is not alone in recognising the important role a sustainable, hydrogen-powered mobility ecosystem can play in the transition to net zero.

Bosch’s fuel-cell power module is now in volume production, and the company is focused on developing a circular economy model that will see the valuable raw materials in its fuel cells – especially platinum – recovered and recycled at the end of a fuel cell’s useful life. Platinum acts as a catalyst in a fuel cell, accelerating the reaction of hydrogen and oxygen, and Bosch believes that 95% of the platinum in fuel cell stacks can be recovered