Photo/Illutration An artist’s rendition of a compact, fuel-cell-powered truck (Provided by Toyota Motor Corp.)

Toyota Motor Corp. said it will team up with a Thai conglomerate to produce hydrogen derived from farm animal waste to power trucks delivering goods to convenience stores.

The Japanese auto giant is tying up with Charoen Pokphand (CP) Group, whose business interests include retail, livestock farming and chemical products in Southeast Asia and China.

The joint venture aims to generate enough hydrogen using biogas derived from animal waste to power fuel cell vehicles the CP Group uses to make deliveries. 

Toyota has a 30-percent leading share in Thailand’s new car market. It expects the project to open new options for next-generation automobiles other than electric vehicles with the aim of achieving carbon neutrality.

CP Group operates the 7-Eleven convenience store and supermarket chains in Thailand.

Fuel cell vehicles emit no carbon dioxide while they are running. Another advantage is that they can be refueled quickly, just like gasoline-powered vehicles.

Delivery trucks have fixed travel routes, so the current limited availability of hydrogen refueling stations will not pose any problems, officials said.

Toyota worked with PTT Public Co., Thailand’s state-owned oil company, and other parties to set up Thailand’s first hydrogen refueling station in November.

Toyota and CP Group will also seek to maximize the efficiency of logistics by, for example, drawing on online connectivity technology to access big data on traffic flow to propose optimal delivery routes.

“Electric vehicles are important, but they are not the sole option,” Toyota President Akio Toyoda told a news conference in Bangkok in December. “What we have to do now is to broaden our choices.”

Aside from Japanese companies, Toyoda said manufacturers that have business connections with the CP Group will also be joining the project, “thereby giving the Thais more options.”

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