FUTURE MOTORING, AS WE SEE IT, FROM THE TOKYO MOTOR SHOW
Posted by Colin Hensley on October 25, 2009 in 360° approach, Green Technologies
On Wednesday I was able to spend some time at the Tokyo Motor Show, and to quote our President Akio Toyoda, it “wasn’t as lively as it used to be”. That being said, we still had quite a lot to show at the Toyota and Lexus stands. In the central area was the new electric vehicle, the FT-EV II. I was lucky enough to have an explanation from Yanaka-san, who has been involved in the development of the vehicle. Some of the key features are 90km range, 100km/h top speed and drive-by-wire technology using a joystick!, this ensures there is plenty of legroom, because there are no pedals!! I do believe that this kind of electric vehicle will be a boon in the cities, where we do lots of short journeys, back and forth work or the shops.
We could also see the second generation PHV that we were proud to have as world premiere in Frankfurt. When I look at it compared to the FT-EV II I see that PHV is basically an EV with an extended range thanks to it being a proper full hybrid. For 20km, (that’d easily get me to work and back) it drives as an EV, then takes the power from the engine, in combination with the electric motor. Here at Toyota we believe this is a really practical approach to using electricity in transport and ideally this electricity will come from renewable sources
My absolute favourites were the personal mobility devices. These include the Winglets, which are two-wheeled, “personal-transport-assistance robots” sounds cool, and looks even cooler. Just jump on, lean in the direction that you want to go, and zoom, off you glide. One day soon, I hope to have a go, and then I’ll be sure to write about it here.
Looking across the range of vehicles, all of them use different aspects of the technology that we have developed in the hybrid programmes. Motors, batteries, power control units and most importantly the software based logic to manage the use of the different sources of energy. With more than 2 million hybrids on the road, I think it’s fair to say we know exactly what needs to be done to make the best use of electricity in transportation.
P.S. At the show I also saw the new FT-86 (hachi roku) Concept, a compact rear wheel drive sports car. I thought it was a really lovely looking car, and, with its 2 litre engine, and light body, it will even have good environmental performance.
RSS
Comments(0)Spotlight on the new full hybrids – made in a plant near you soon!
Posted by Colin Hensley on September 29, 2009 in 360° approach, Clean Operations, Green Technologies
Sunday saw the closing of the doors of IAA in Frankfurt for another two years. It’s probably one of the biggest motor shows in the world. I don’t know if it has the largest number of visitors, but it is definitely, geographically, huge! I just measured it on Google Earth (50° 6′40.39″N, 8°38′43.52″E), and it’s more than a kilometre across, which goes a long way to explaining why my legs still ache following our 3 days of activities. Anyway, it was a very exciting show for us, as we had two cars on the Toyota stand and one on the Lexus stand that were being seen for the first time ever, anywhere!. Perhaps the best part of this is that all three are hybrids. As most people don’t get the chance to go on the IAA exercise programme, let me just do a bit of product PR, and give a few details on these cars.
Our locally produced highlight is the Auris HSD Full Hybrid Concept. It’ll be made in the TMUK plant starting next year. I hope to have the chance to visit the plant during the preparations for the production. After visiting Tsutsumi earlier in the year, I can’t wait to see one of our European Sustainable Plants producing this new full hybrid.
The Prius Plug-in Hybrid Concept also proved to be of great interest to the visitors. Our target for CO2 emissions for this car is under 60g/km with a 20km range. One of my colleagues who drive the car recently in Japan raved about the seamless acceleration up to100km/hr in EV mode.
On the Lexus stand we had the LF-Ch concept, which was displayed in an amazing yellow colour. This is the first concept in the C-segment, and should be a stylish and practical option for people.
Finally, I’d just like to say congratulations to the source of many great blog topics, Karen from TMUK, who just celebrated her marriage to Darren; have a great eco-life together.
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.
