Archive for the ‘Green Technologies’ Category
PHV - It’s a hybrid Jim, but not as we know it
Posted by Colin Hensley on March 24, 2009 in 360° approach, Green Technologies
You may have seen some press reports last week about the plans for the launch of a significant trial of Toyota plug-in hybrids (PHVs) in Strasbourg, France. This is an activity we are doing in collaboration with EDF, a major French electricity provider. Later this year about 100 PHVs will be leased to selected companies and partners and will start running around Strasbourg.
These are what I suppose we could call our second generation PHVs, they will have lithium-ion batteries. The limited trial in London and Paris with the first generation used nickel metal hydride batteries, (that’s the same type as we used in the other 1.7 million hybrids we have sold around the world.)
PHVs really give you the best of both worlds, for short trips or commutes they are an electric vehicle, but once you need to go further, they are just like a normal full hybrid. That means you get the full performance of the vehicle at all times. When you can choose to use electricity from a renewable source, the car will be running at zero-emissions while in EV mode.
One of the reasons for the trial is to really try to find the optimum balance between EV range cruising range and battery capacity. It always possible to give a car greater autonomy, by adding more batteries, but this has a negative impact in terms of cost, weight and usability.
I haven’t yet had a chance to drive the PHV, but I look forward to doing so in the future, and you can be sure you will hear about it here, first!
I’d really like to hear your thoughts on the future direction of sustainable mobility, and which type of vehicles will be the most popular. At the end of the day, it will be the customer that has to make the decision for what they want.
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Comments(5)Prius – technology for a reason
Posted by Colin Hensley on March 14, 2009 in Green Technologies
As I said last week, it was great to have the chance to launch the new Prius in Europe last week in Geneva. I’d like to take a few lines now to describe some of the impressive technical achievements that we see gathered in the new Prius.
Of course, the powertrain is the tour-de-force of the car, a full series/parallel hybrid offering EV drive and very low CO2 in the combined cycle. It’s also very widely covered in various media, so let me move on to a couple of other features.
The solar roof that powers a fan to bring in cooler outside air is a feature that is proving to be a much talked about addition. Of course, it’s especially interesting for the countries where the sun really shines a lot (from my seat in Belgium, I think I can still just about remember what the sun looks like.) The system not only makes the car cooler when you get in, it also then means you need less energy to cool down the car to a completely comfortable temperature.
The touch tracer display is also a new feature, this one with a safety benefit. As you move your thumb (or finger) over the buttons on the steering wheel, you can actually see in the display which button it is, and so easily can do what you want to do. This means your eyes spend less time off the road. We know from our accident studies in the past that lack of recognition of a dangerous situation is a critical cause of accidents, so every extra millisecond you have can make a difference. For similar reasons, the Prius also has a head-up display showing the information you want to know as you drive, such as your speed, or where to turn when you have a navigation system.
I’m really looking forward to having a chance to drive the Prius, so I guess I’ll have to start begging Dirk (my colleague who arranged the iQ) as soon as we have the cars here.
Enjoying clean Swiss air - the show must go on!
Posted by Colin Hensley on March 08, 2009 in 360° approach, Design, Green Technologies
Those of you that follow our Twitter will know that I’m just back from the Geneva Motor Show. We had a very busy time at the show, for a number of reasons. Firstly because the industry is under intense scrutiny at the moment, as we are doing our best to weather a really tough crisis. Secondly, we launched the new Prius into Europe at our event last Monday evening, alongside the new Verso, (C-segment MPV.)
It was great to have a chance to meet Akihiko Otsuka, who is the Chief Engineer of the Prius, and to talk to him about his hopes, aims and anecdotes of when he led the team that developed the car. When I wrote a few weeks ago about the Prius and about the new engine, I couldn’t reveal that the CO2 figure for the combined cycle in Europe is just 89g/km. I also didn’t know all of the efforts that were made in so many areas of engineering the car to do everything to reduce the fuel consumption during real-life driving. I did know the CO2 figure on Monday, and that motivated me to really pick Otsuka-san’s brain. Next week, I’ll write a bit more technical blog on that, but for today I’ll leave you with one little gem. When developing the new Prius, Otsuka-san researched loads of things, even including large ships, which are know for running on highly efficient internal combustion engines. We can learn from everywhere, we just have to be unafraid to look.
How to use less water, and influence people!
Posted by Colin Hensley on January 30, 2009 in Green Technologies
Last week I was in the United Kingdom, at meetings with my colleagues from the operations there, including some from TMUK, our UK manufacturing operation. During lunch we were talking about the various activities that they have been busy with as part of their Sustainable Plant institutive.
One of the ones I found most interesting was to do with the reduction in water use at the plant. Over the past few years they have done a number of different things to use less, and re-use more. What impressed me is the way of thinking, it’s not just aiming for big wins, but consistently and continuously looking for every possible improvement. That’s the real kaizen mind, that is at its best in the plant.
There are some ‘big’ activities, one of which is the reverse osmosis plant, which takes the wastewater from the painting process and cleans it up to allow it to be used as feed water for steam boilers and cooling for compressors. This in itself represents a saving of 50000 tonnes per year!
As a result TMUK has reduced water consumption by 72% compared with 1993 levels.
Perhaps the icing on the cake is that this activity has been recognised by the community, with TMUK receiving a Big Tick Eco-efficiency Award from the NGO Business In The Community in 2007 and 2008.
Please have a look at our TV commercial if you are interested in seeing many of the Sustainable Plant activities in one 60 second spot.
Moving on with Hybrids
Posted by Colin Hensley on January 22, 2009 in 360° approach, Eco-driving tips, Green Technologies
I have to confess I am now jealous of my colleagues in North America, at TMS, who have already had the opportunity to “show-off” the new Prius at NAIAS in Detroit. I’ve followed the buzz with great interest, and I should add, quite some pride.
I’ve spent a lot of hours talking to people about hybrids, at conferences, press launches and many times during dinner or at parties with friends.
I’ve always been enthusiastic about hybrid technology, it’s one of those wonderful feats of science, where the holistic result is more than the sum of the parts, even somehow seeming to defeat logic.
This is where the new Prius shines too. The engine is now bigger than the current Prius, 1.8l vs 1.5l, but this results in enhanced efficiency! This links back to what I said in my last blog about eco-driving, that you should keep the revs as low as possible, for better fuel efficiency. With the 1.8l engine, when driving at higher speeds, the Prius does this bit for you, and engine turns at fewer rpm, hence the result.
But, in the end, the thing that really makes me happy about Prius, is that it makes the owners happy. Some people accuse Prius owners of being ‘smug’, well, wouldn’t you have the right to be if you had the car which won the J.D. Power and Associates award after emerging as the highest scoring individual model in the 2008 Customer Satisfaction Index Study in both the UK and France. I’m also struck by how Prius owners feel like they’re part of something special. They have even set up quite active online communities and forums such as Priuspoint and Priuschat.
Whether you’re a Prius driver or not, I’d really appreciate your thoughts on our hybrids – or anybody else’s.
