Japan’s Big Four come together on hydrogen-powered small engines

Honda, Kawasaki, Suzuki and Yamaha are banding together to research and develop hydrogen-powered small engines, it has been announced.

Last week the four companies announced that they had received approval from Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) to from a Hydrogen Small mobility & Engine Technology (HySE) research association.

Each company will go on to develop its own final products.

Joining the big four will be Kawasaki Heavy Industries and Toyota.

“Small engines” will include a variety of mini-vehicles, including drones, construction equipment, and of course motorcycles.

Hydrogen is a fuel is gaining momentum, however still comes with significant challenges. Fast flame speed and a large region of ignition, which often result in unstable combustion, and limited fuel tank capacity are all issues the collaborators hope to address with their research.

Honda will ‘research on the model-based development of hydrogen powered engines,’ while Suzuki is works on ‘functionality, performance, and reliability of the hydrogen-powered engines’ and Yamaha and Kawasaki do ‘hands-on research using real hydrogen-powered engines on their functionality, performance and reliability’.

Kenji Komatsu, Chairman nominee of HySE and Executive Officer of the Technical Research & Development Centre at Yamaha, said: “We are extremely pleased to announce the planned formation of the association. There are many challenges in the development of hydrogen-powered engines, but we hope to see the association’s activities advance the fundamental research in order to meet those challenges. We are committed to this endeavour with a sense of mission to preserve the use of internal combustion engines, which epitomize the long-time efforts that our predecessors have invested.”