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Re: gtl
TOKYO -- Toyota Motor Corp. (7203.TO) and Royal Dutch/Shell Group will soon launch a joint trial of environmentally friendly vehicles using a new fuel developed by Shell.
Toyota and Shell Gas & Power, a Royal Dutch/Shell Group company, said Tuesday they will trial ten of Toyota 's Avensis models equipped with the automaker's advanced clean diesel engine technology using gas-to-liquid, a new fuel based on natural gas developed by Shell.
The trial reflects global car and energy companies' stepped-up efforts to develop fuel-cell vehicles, gasoline-electric hybrid engines and other types of vehicles with ultra-low gas emission engines as the issue of global warming spurs interest in "green" technology.
Shell's GTL is a clean synthetic fuel derived from gas. It's cost effective and virtually free of sulfur, the company says. GTL, which can be used in existing diesel-engine vehicles, is gaining attention as a next-generation clean fuel.
Toyota is the maker of the world's first mass-produced gasoline-electric hybrid car, the Prius, which has advanced diesel technology that reduces both particulate and nitrogen oxide in diesel exhaust gas.
Under the trial, the GTL-fueled cars will be driven in the London area by people from the British Red Cross, Shelter, Guy's and St Thomas's Hospital Trust and the Energy Saving Trust. Over the next three months, these organizations will use the cars in their fund-raising events, and in providing help to the homeless or ill that may need hospital care.
More than 40% of vehicles in Europe are diesel cars, which could be replaced by GTL vehicles in the future.
Demand for GTL may grow in Japan as well. Tokyo and other major cities in Japan introduced stricter diesel engine gas emissions regulations last year.
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