Plugging our Plug-Ins
Posted by Colin Hensley on April 29, 2010 in 360° approach, Green Technologies
Yesterday, I came back from Strasbourg where I had been for the launch of a large-scale Plug-in Hybrid Vehicle (PHV) demonstration in Strasbourg together with the French energy provider EDF, and the City and the Urban Community of Strasbourg. We’ve were lucky to have beautiful weather in a wonderfully picturesque city. There will soon be about 100 PHVs zooming around the region. They are not being driven by Toyota people, but by a group of partners who have decided they want to be involved in this trail-blazing activity, and are willing to commit their own resources to be involved (and a huge thanks to them all).
Another great thing about this project is that it will provide masses of data for all of the partners to be able to better understand how our customers will use the vehicles, and allow for the validation of the techno-economic feasibility of the PHV, before we engage in mass production.
Before then though, we have to look at the feedback from the journalists who were driving the cars this week. From talking with the media in Strasbourg, I was glad to find that we had been able to make our strategy for hybrid clearer. One of my colleagues from Toyota Frey in Switzerland also explained that very importantly, PHV could concretely demonstrate the next steps for hybrid. I believe that once we then link in the Fuel Cell hybrids which are now in Europe, our direction will be seen to be both logical and very tangible.
Over the next few months, we will be launching PHV in a total of 18 countries across Europe, so please keep your eyes open for one on a road near you!
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Comments(0)Every day is “sun”day at the Toyota Parts Centre
Posted by Colin Hensley on April 13, 2010 in Uncategorized
I was recently lucky enough to be on vacation in the mountains. While I was riding up the mountain on the ski-lift with some friends I noticed that there seemed to be a lot fewer trees affected by acid rain as compared with my recollection of some years ago. If this is true, then I hope it has a lot to do with the wider use of electricity from renewable sources. We believe this is a very important step to take to have a more sustainable business.
It’s for precisely this reason that TME, in partnership with Blue Planet Solar NV have installed an 80,000m² solar panel array on the roof of our parts centre, TPCE, in Diest. This installation is one of the largest thin-film solar panel rooftop installations in Belgium and will produce between 15% & 20% of the annual electricity requirements of the facility, resulting in reduced CO2 emissions and huge savings on the energy bill.
On the 24th March we held an inauguration ceremony where the Flemish Minister for Energy, Ms Freya Van den Bossche symbolically pushed the button to start the collection of energy from the panels. Ms Van den Bossche also joined our partners and the other VIP guests in a trip to the roof to see the 12,800 panels. It was hugely impressive, covering the equivalent of 16 football pitches, the panels just seemed to go on and on as far as you could see. Even here in Belgium, which isn’t noted for it’s sunny climate, the panels should generate somewhere between 15% and 20% of the annual electricity needs of TPCE (the rest of the electricity also comes from renewable sources).
This also means a reduction in the CO2 emissions of about 1700 tonnes/year for TPCE. So now as well as being able to offer lower CO2 cars, we can also address emissions during the rest of the product lifecycle.
