Teaching on Europe
Toyota, Energy Efficiency and the Climate Change Agenda
On 10 December 2009 iCES Distinguished Visiting Fellow, Mr
Piet Steel, vice-president for European affairs for Toyota
Motor Europe delivered an iCES Lecture on the theme of Toyota's
research on sustainable mobility.
Introducing the lecture Professor Michael Scriven highlighted Mr
Steel's extensive knowledge of Europe and international trade
negotiation in his former role as Belgium's Chief Negotiator at the
GATT as well as his current position as vice-president for European
affairs for Toyota Motor Europe.
Future mobilitity and the environment in Toyota research
In his lecture, Mr Steel looked at Toyota's strategy on future
technologies, highlighting at Toyota's environmental history.
From late 1960s experience with gas turbine
hybrid cars to mid 90s Toyota's first fuel cell vehicle, and the
first generation of Prius to current generations of Hybrid Lexus
Toyota has been the leadering car company with a well established
environmental history that has seen the introduction of the most
popular and accessible hybrid cars.
Towards the Ultimate Eco-Car
Mr Steel's presentation examined the EU climate change package
and Toyota's progress in reducing C02 exhaust emissions
as part of the 'regulatory' environment' in Europe. In this
respect, the average low emissions of the current Toyota models in
Europe are already meeting the "voluntary" targets set by the
industry. Toyota is making fast progress to meet the European
mandatory CO2 targets for 2015. He argued:
'Thanks to the Hybrid technology, which optimizes the fuel
efficiency of whatever energy source (gasoline, diesel, gas fuels,
bio and synthetic fuels, electricity and hydrogen) the CO2
emissions will be further drastically lowered until we reach
the ultimate eco-car or sustainable mobility, an aspirational goal
the automakers should all try to achieve in the future: the right
car, the right place, the right time'
Mr Steel elaborated on the Plug-in hybrid (PHV) car 'the best of
both worlds' that is able to use an engine powered with gasoline
fuel tank and a battery that can be charged and plugged in to
household electrical energy. The PHV, he argued, had more benefits
than other solutions: it was infrastructure independent,
easier to use for the customer, with larger customer
acceptance and less user anxiety than fully electrical cars (a more
niche market) and better suited for reduction in daily commuting
trips.
Hybrid Technology: Batteries and CO2 emissions
Mr Steel produced insightful comments on the nature of full
hybrid technology and the efficiency of combined combustion engines
with electric motor vehicles. 
He outlined how Toyota's aims for a full hybrid car were
gradually being met by higher global hybrid sales and considered
the use and impact of batteries in car production.
The life cycle assessment (LCA) that measures the amount of
C02 emissions of a vehicle life cycle and the
C02 emissions on production was, for the new Prius, 37%
less in C02 emissions than a comparable diesel
vehicle.
Global Development in PHV (Plug-in Hybrid) vehicles
Mr Steel introduced the new Auris HV, the first full
hybrid car built in Europe for the European markets, to enter the
market in 2010. He described the features of new
PHV cars. These will have a lithium-ion battery pack, with an
Electric Vehicle (EV) range of 20 Km and a max speed of 100 Km/h
-having more range and speed than standard electrical vehicles- and
has a charging time of under 2 hours using domestic electrical
systems.
Mr Steel noted several of the key issues on the
creation of PHV vehicles, and the challenges imposed by electrical
vehicles:
- the imporance of evaluating consumer use and acceptance
- need for changing infrastructure
- battery costs
- charging times, with a specific emphasis on the substantial
redefinition of batteries and battery density
- hydrogen production and supply.
Enviornmental Leadership in Car Research
In his conclusions Mr Steel remarked that Toyota has had a long
history of environmental leadership, extensive research into
powertrains (the components that generate power in engines) since
1967 and much experience of bringing out prototype cars with newer
solutions for environmental issues. He considered the Full hybrid
as being today's most viable option with 'Toyota Hybrid Synergy
Drive (HSD)'.
The Lecture was attended by a large group of staff and
students and was followed by a Q&A session. Before and
following the lecture students and staff had an opportunity to
speak informally to Mr Piet Steel.
A downloadable
version of his presentation for students can be found here
Page last updated 1/11/2010