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.
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Comments(1)Sustainability reporting, more sustainably
Posted by Colin Hensley on September 04, 2009 in Clean Operations
So, the holiday season has come to an end, and the weather here in Brussels has taken a turn for the greyer and wetter. During the last months my colleagues here have been working on the 2009 edition of the TME Sustainability Report. One thing was clear from the start, it was time to move to have online as our primary communications channel for the report. We previously did have a PDF version on the website, but we were also printing copies. This will no longer be the case, for the FY2008 report, there will be a PDF, but perhaps more importantly all of the content will be fully incorporated into the Toyota corporate website. The report details environmental, social and economic activities of Toyota in Europe, including case studies. We’d love to hear your feedback on the report, either here, or through the addresses on the website.
Speaking of environmental activities, TMUK have been continuing to live up to their sustainable plant title. In the summer they held an Environmental Day, and Eco Plant Expo, which was attended by more than 3000 people. As well as showing off eco-kaizens in the plant itself, there was a nature trail around the balancing lake area and there was even a tree planting event. Visitors also had a chance to drive the lowest CO2 vehicles in our fleet. All in all it was a very educational and enjoyable day out.
Let’s not forget the new Auris HSD full hybrid will also be produced in TMUK. The concept will be on show for all to see in Frankfurt at the IAA.
See you there!
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.
