Early in the 1990s, Toyota sought to answer two important questions: “What are the requirements of motor vehicles for the 21 st century?†and “What sort of vision must Toyota have to meet the challenges of the new era?†To answer these questions, the company assembled staff members from various departments to develop a totally new type of vehicle.
Early in the 1990s, Toyota sought to answer two important questions: “What are the requirements of motor vehicles for the 21 st century?†and “What sort of vision must Toyota have to meet the challenges of the new era?†To answer these questions, the company assembled staff members from various departments to develop a totally new type of vehicle.
The group was driven by the notion that a vehicle for the 21 st century must set an example by offering solutions to natural resource and environmental issues. At the same time, these solutions could not interfere with convenience and comfort.
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Targets
In 1994, the group set a target of a 50% increase in fuel efficiency. Akihiro Wada, a Toyota executive vice president at the time who was responsible for the project, felt that this was inadequate: “50% is not good enough. Our fuel efficiency improvement target must be 100%â€. In 1995, Toyota decided that the double efficiency target vehicle would have to be a hybrid vehicle and aimed to release it by the end of 1997.
First generation Prius
In March 1997, Toyota announced the completion of a new power train called the Toyota Hybrid System (THS) for use in passenger vehicles. This power train combined a gasoline engine and an electric motor and did not require external charging. The system achieved nearly twice the fuel efficiency of conventional gasoline engines. THS was first installed in Toyota's Prius passenger vehicle and introduced to the Japanese market in December 1997 as the first mass-produced hybrid passenger vehicle in the world. In 2000, after further improving THS, overseas marketing of the Prius began
Redesigned second-generation Prius
After the launch of the Prius in December of 1997, it underwent two redesigns, improving fuel efficiency. Toyota developed the concept of Hybrid Synergy Drive, with a new-generation hybrid system called THS II. It achieved high levels of compatibility between environmental performance and power by increasing the motor output by 1.5 times, greatly boosting the power supply voltage and achieving significant advances in the control system, aiming for synergy between motor power and engine power. Toyota thereby improved the driving performance, which had been one of the challenges facing the first-generation Prius.
Results
The target of 100% increase in fuel efficiency was achieved in the first mass-produced hybrid Prius in December 1997. Since then, it underwent two redesigns, improving the fuel efficiency from 28.0 km/liter to 31.0 km/liter in 2002. The second-generation Prius, launched in 2003 improved fuel efficiency to 35.5 km/liter while enhancing driving performance with THS II. THS II also made SUVs with hybrid possible.
Toyota's hybrid lineup now includes a total of eleven vehicle series, and the company has sold more than 1.4 million hybrid vehicles worldwide as of March 2008. Toyota aims at one million hybrid vehicle sales per year in the early 2010s
Towards the ultimate eco-car
Talk of an ultimate eco car calls to mind electric vehicles (EV) and fuel cell hybrid vehicles (FCHV). However, hybrid vehicles are not a transitional stage towards achieving an ultimate EV or FCHV. The applicability of hybrid technology is broad and can be used not only on gasoline vehicles, but also with diesel and alternative fuel engines, and it is even effective in combination with fuel cell technologies. If the hybrid system can increase performance regardless of the energy source, it will remain a core technology in the development of the ultimate eco car.
Toyota is working on developing a fuel cell vehicle with hybrid technology called “Toyota Fuel Cell Hybrid Vehicle.†In order to commercialize the fuel cell vehicle, the main challenge is to reduce the manufacturing cost of the battery, a fact that will require a technological breakthrough.
“Plug-in hybrid†technology brings further potential for substantial CO 2 emissions reductions from vehicles. It has a higher battery capacity and is thus more fuel-efficient than the current hybrid, assisted by the power of the engine. For a short-distance drive, it could be run with electricity charged during the night. Depending on how electricity is generated, the vehicle could run with much lower CO 2 emissions. In order to commercialize the plug-in hybrid, there is again a need for a breakthrough in battery technology. It is necessary to develop a smaller-sized battery with higher capacity.
The need for technology cooperation
When looking ahead to future prospects, the issue of further proliferation of environmental technologies will need to be addressed. “We believe that the proliferation is not something that Toyota can achieve on its own, and when considering the global environment, it is important that automakers from around the world work together. That is why we are considering disclosing technologies. This has so far led to the signing of licensing agreements with Nissan and Ford. Toyota will continue to work in the future with numerous automakers to promote the widespread adoption of hybrid systemsâ€, says Toyota's former Executive Vice President Akihiko Saito.
