“Keep your eyes on them there hills… the PHV is a comin’”
Posted by Colin Hensley on May 15, 2009 in 360° approach, Green Technologies
This week is really about a few updates of previous posts. At the end of March I wrote about the Plug-in hybrids that we are testing, and the plans for enlarging this test in Europe. At the time I just mentioned the cars that will be going to Strasbourg, well things are starting to move on quite nicely. We are now in discussion to bring the cars to the UK, Germany and the Netherlands, and as you can imagine are keen to work with other countries too if we can. As a consequence, it looks like we will certainly need more than the originally planned number of 150 cars here in Europe.
This is great for us, as we will have even more data to evaluate, and more opinions and experiences of the drivers who are participating in this limited lease pilot. PHV won’t be ready for mass commercialisation for a little while, but when it is, we believe PHV will really complement the Prius, and the other full hybrids in our line-up.
I also promised to update you on the Toyota Technology Challenge in the UK. Well, the final is tomorrow at the Burnaston plant, and there will be thirteen teams competing from all across the country. The teams have already won their regional heats and are now competing for the national title in each of the categories. Seven will compete in the solar powered vehicle category and six in the PIC microcontroller category. Good luck to all of the teams, and, I will, of course, let you know who is finally triumphant
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Comments(2)Feeling technologically challenged? - these kids aren’t…
Posted by Colin Hensley on April 02, 2009 in Uncategorized
I grew up as science loving son of a science teacher & electrical engineer. Unsurprisingly, I am always happy to see projects or activities that help to instil enthusiasm for science into school kids. A really nice example of this is the Toyota Technology Challenge which is aimed at 11-16 year olds in the UK. It is funded by Toyota Fund for Europe, and run by TMUK in collaboration with Rapid.
There are two categories in the challenge. One is building a solar powered car, the other a car with a microcontroller enabling it to detect and avoid obstacles. You can see all of the details in the link above, but the basic idea is this:
• The team registers to participate
• A kit with everything they need to make the vehicle is sent to them
• They produce a folder all about their planned vehicle and submit it (Feb)
• Folder judging – best entries invited to one of 7 regional finals (April)
• At the regionals the folders are presented and vehicles race
• Winners are invited to national final at TMUK (16 May)
• More presentations and racing to find the champions!
This is the 5th year this has been run as a national challenge. Each year they receive about 400 registrations and typically about a quarter will actually submit their entry folder. The first of the regional finals will be held next week in Scotland, so good luck to all of the teams, and watch this space to find out who is successful.
These will be the engineers and scientists of the next decades, developing the technologies and products that we will need to ensure we have a sustainable future. So it’s really important that we get as many students as possible involved in this type of activity, and celebrate their enthusiasm.
