NEWS OF THE WEIRD
Bits and pieces of news you can’t use collected from around the web so you don’t have to…
Toyota builds experimental hydrogen-powered pizza oven
Grilling season has officially started, and Toyota believes it has the answer to the decades-old “charcoal versus propane” debate: None of the above. The brand teamed up with an appliance company named Rinnai to build what it calls the world’s first hydrogen-powered stone oven. And, because not everyone has a gig as a pizzaiolo listed somewhere on their resume, it also built a small hydrogen-burning barbecue.
Even for Rinnai, a Japanese brand that celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2020, making a hydrogen-powered cooker was easier said than done. There’s nothing like it on the market, so there are no safety standards to use as guidelines. That’s why Toyota enlisted a partner: it knows how to make hydrogen-powered cars that don’t explode and Rinnai knows how to make ovens and furnaces that don’t explode.
The oven features technology derived from the Mirai, including the system used to supply and monitor hydrogen. It also relies on the same type of control system that Rinnai puts in its furnaces. Precisely how it works hasn’t been detailed, but Toyota notes that hydrogen, which has a high combustion temperature, combines with oxygen to produce steam as it burns. Visually, the stone oven looks like a regular pizza oven with a dome, a chimney, and a half-circle-shaped slot that the pizza goes into. It’s on wheels, so it can be moved around as needed.
Toyota’s employees have been testing the oven by making pizzas and croissants. The brand hasn’t published its dough recipe yet, however.
Toyota argues that cooking with hydrogen makes food taste better. “Take things like mushrooms and vegetables. While these ingredients tend to dry out on a wood or charcoal barbecue, hydrogen cooks more quickly, leaving them bursting with moisture and delicious flavors.”
Beyond better-cooked portobello mushrooms, Toyota hopes you’ll buy a hydrogen-powered car after grilling with a hydrogen barbecue. In the Japanese company’s words, “making hydrogen feel like part of every day life is a crucial first step in creating a hydrogen society.”
There’s no word on whether Toyota and Rinnai will bring their hydrogen-powered stone oven to the market, or if it’s going to remain at the prototype stage (much to the delight of the employees assigned to the project). As for the barbecue, the company has already started using it at motorsport events like the WRC Rally Challenge, which is a program it started in 2015 to prepare young rookie drivers for rally racing.
https://www.autoblog.com/2024/07/04/toyota-builds-experimental-hydrogen-powered-pizza-oven
No, Volodomyr Zelensky’s Wife Didn’t Buy a Bugatti Tourbillion
Russian disinformation campaigns are nothing new, but this one is particularly bizarre. A state-owned Russian news site is pushing an obvious falsehood that Olena Zelensky, wife of Ukraine president Volodymyr, bought a Bugatti Tourbillion from dealer Bugatti Paris. The dealer denies that this is the case, and in a statement said it’s taking legal action against the parties that pushed this propaganda.
As noted by Italian journalist David Puente on X (formerly Twitter), the story emerged from a French-language website called Verite Cachee, or “Hidden Truth in France.” The site went live just last month, ahead of the French elections, and appears to be filled with low-quality, AI-generated, pro-Russia content.
The site has what it falsely purports to be an invoice for the car, and a deepfake video on Instagram of someone claiming to be a dealership employee announcing the sale of a Tourbillon to Zelensky. The story from this site was then picked up by RIA Novosti, a Russian state-owned publication.
https://www.motor1.com/news/725302/russian-propaganda-zelensky-bugatti
The car Putin gifted to Kim Jong-un was built with South Korean parts
Laughing and joking, Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un cruised around Pyongyang last week in a Russian-made Aurus limousine to showcase their strengthened anti-Western alliance.
The luxury sedan was intended to epitomize Russia’s domestic prowess and reduced dependence on imported technology and goods when unveiled in 2018.
But customs records show that the company that builds it uses millions of dollars in imported parts, many arriving in Russia from what Kim has described as his country’s “primary foe,” South Korea.
The imports point to Russia’s ongoing reliance on Western technology as it seeks to navigate Western attempts to cut it off from global supply chains as punishment for its invasion of Ukraine.
The two leaders took turns driving the armoured limousine during Putin’s pomp-filled visit, his first in nearly a quarter of a century to North Korea, in a demonstration of the two nuclear powers’ increasingly close ties.
Russia imported equipment and components worth at least $34 million between 2018 and 2023 for assembling Aurus cars and motorcycles, customs records seen by Reuters showed. Reuters does not have access to more recent data.
The imports included car body parts, sensors, programmable controllers, switches, welding equipment and other components worth almost $15.5 million imported from South Korea. Parts were also imported from China, India, Turkey, Italy and other EU countries.
Foreign supplies for Aurus kept coming after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, with goods worth almost $16 million, including $5 million produced in South Korea, imported since February 2022, the records showed.
Reuters could not determine specifically which imported foreign parts ended up in the car gifted to Kim, and the imports were not in breach of sanctions — Aurus LLC was sanctioned by the United States in February 2024.
The Aurus sedan was developed by Russian state-owned research institute NAMI in partnership with Russian carmaker Sollers, which has since sold its stake.
Aurus Motors and its CEO Andrey Pankov did not respond to Reuters’ requests for comment on the use of foreign parts, including from South Korea, in its vehicles.
Who the suppliers are
The company launched official production in Russia’s Tatarstan region, around 1,000 km (620 miles) from Moscow, in 2021 – before then it was made on a small, experimental scale at NAMI. It will start additional production in St Petersburg later this year at Toyota’s former factory.
Toyota is one of many foreign carmakers to exit the Russian market since the invasion, which Russia calls a “special military operation”.
The exodus has left a gap that Chinese producers have been quick to fill, rapidly seizing more than half the market share and exposing Russia’s limited domestic production capacity.
South Korean firms were among the largest suppliers to Aurus, including industrial equipment producer Kyungki Industrial Co, car body parts manufacturer BYT CO LTD and batteries supplier Enertech International Inc.
And in keeping with this issue’s theme….Nissan Made a Perfume That Smells Like Tires
“Smell My Dust.”
Nissan has a new perfume that smells like tires. It also smells like cherry blossoms, because Japan is world-famous for its cherry blossoms that bloom in the spring. Yes, it’s a supremely weird combination and yes, it’s a legit perfume. The fragrance is called Smell My Dust, and we’re dying to find out how it smells.
That might be tough, though. Nissan doesn’t tell us how to get a bottle, but its announcement coincides with the upcoming Formula E race taking place this weekend in Shanghai. It’s the first time the electric series has gone to Shanghai, and Nissan hopes to grab some extra attention with its new fragrance. Apparently, weird perfumes and colognes are popular with younger generations.
Nissan worked with a perfume lab in Shanghai to bring this scent to life. The exact composition is unknown, thoughclaims actual bits of tire dust were used in its creation. Nissan has done well in Formula E this year, earning six podium finishes and one event win to currently hold third place in the overall standings. And this is how the team decided to celebrate.
https://www.motor1.com/news/720623/nissan-perfume-cherry-blossoms-tires
