Case Study 2- Toyota

In October 1957, Chrome and tailfins were the cutting edge of American automotive design. However, Toyota Motor Sales set up shop in a small Southern California dealership. Since then, they have gone on a few exciting drives. In 1965, Toyota introduced the powerful, well-equipped Corona that became an instant hit with Americans. By the '70s, Toyota was the best-selling import brand. During the '80s, Toyota started to manufacture vehicles in the U.S. And today, Toyota continues to earn top honors for product quality.


A two-seat sports car shown at the 1977 Tokyo Motor Show was the first Toyota hybrid vehicle ever displayed. It was a Japanese-market Sport 800 with the engine and transmission replaced by a gas turbine and an electric motor. The gas turbines in this car are similar to the turbofan engines that power jet aircraft. They burn fuel in a combustion chamber that causes a blade-covered shaft to turn at high speed. Toyota had been working on turbine hybrids since 1965, and experiments continued into the 1980s. The Sport 800's turbine did not power the wheels directly. Instead, the shaft turned an electric generator that both charged onboard hybrid batteries and powered an electric motor connected to the rear wheels through a conventional differential and axle. This type of configuration is used today in some heavy-duty buses and trucks, and is called a "series" hybrid.

In the 1960s, many worlds’ automakers try to imitate and explore the application of turbine engines to automobiles. However, they could not follow the approach used by Toyota. Toyota's first production hybrid vehicle entered the Japanese market in 1997. The 24-passenger Coaster Hybrid bus featured a gasoline engine running the generator in a series configuration, similar to the Sport 800 system described above. A few years earlier, Toyota began a new hybrid program that paved the way for Prius, Hybrid Synergy Drive® and Highlander Hybrid. In 1994, Toyota embarked on a development program for a "21st-Century vehicle," with Toyota's environmental Earth Charter as the inspiration for high efficiency and low emissions. Engineers settled on a hybrid solution based on more than 30 years of Toyota hybrid heritage. After the decision was made to move forward on a hybrid system, more than 100 different configurations were considered.



Hybrid and hydrogen vehicles are making news for Toyota. Hybrids have earned universal recognition as environmental and market successes, and hydrogen-powered fuel cell vehicles (FCVs) are regarded as promising zero-emission solutions for the future. When considering the impact of hybrids and FCVs, it's worth taking a "well-to-wheel" holistic approach. Well-to-wheel describes the impact of a vehicle's operation, including the entire cycle of the fuel from the time it's extracted or manufactured until it is used in the vehicle. In a well-to-wheel comparison, a gasoline-powered Prius is actually more efficient than a typical hydrogen-powered FCV. Toyota estimates that Prius has a well-to-wheel efficiency of 29% versus 22% for a typical FCV. It lies in the expenditure of energy involved in producing and transporting hydrogen. Hydrogen is a manufactured fuel. As such, its production requires electric power, which is generated in fossil fuel-powered plants. More energy is expended in producing and distributing hydrogen than is released when it is consumed in a fuel cell.

In contrast, gasoline releases more energy in a car's engine than is needed to pump, refine and transport it. This is a critical factor in making today's hybrids actually more efficient than FCVs in a well-to-wheel context. Toyota estimates that the efficiency of fuel production and delivery to the vehicle's tank is 79% for gasoline versus 58% for hydrogen that is manufactured from natural gas. Natural gas "reforming" is the most common method of hydrogen production. The other major process is electrolysis, in which electric currents split pure water into hydrogen and oxygen. Many advocates of hydrogen power promote the use of renewable energy for electrolysis, including solar and wind-generated electricity. This eliminates fossil fuels from the production process. Renewable production of hydrogen is demonstrated today in a number of locations, with the hope that it can be brought to commercial scale in the future. Toyota and other companies are working steadily and investing millions of dollars in FCV research; but for the foreseeable future, hybrids are being hailed as the best available solution for maximizing fuel economy and reducing emissions at an affordable price.

Toyota's First Consolidated Five-Year North American Environmental Action Plan (2002-2006) have been successfully carried out. They were steady increase of hybrid product offerings to five models and exceeding fuel-efficiency requirements for passenger cars and light-duty trucks. Also, Toyota manage to achieve the reduction of emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) by 56% from 1998 levels in manufacturing operations and reduction of energy use by 30% in manufacturing operations since 2000, double the target, and 19% in sales and distribution operations.

In December 21, 2006, Toyota announced its Second Consolidated Five-Year Environmental Action Plan (2007-2011), setting new environmental goals for all phases of the vehicle lifecycle and addressing themes of energy, climate change, recycling, resource conservation, substances of concern, atmospheric quality and environmental management. The new action plan that was published contained significant commitments which included achievement of best-in-class fuel efficiency performance and reduction of total energy usage of manufacturing facilities and operations in North America by 27% per vehicle produced, using FY 2002 as a base year.
In December 2007, Toyota reported on the progress of its 5 years plan. Their environmental reports show a consistent history of achieving and in many cases exceeding their targets of improving the efficiency of performance and reduction in fuel and energy consumption. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has awarded Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America, Inc. (TEMA) with a 2007 ENERGY STAR Sustained Excellence Award in recognition of its continued leadership in protecting our environment through energy efficiency. The awards recognize ongoing leadership across the ENERGY STAR program including energy-efficient products, services, new homes and in the commercial, industrial and public sectors.
Recently, according to the article published on February 2008, Toyota announced the hybrid and clean diesel initiatives. Toyota will supply plug-in hybrids to commercial customers by 2010 in conjunction with the North American International Auto Show (NAIAS) plans to launch a commercial version of plug-in hybrid concepts by 2010. Toyota does not say which vehicle will be available as a plug-in hybrid, though most industry observers expect it to be a new version of the Prius. The vehicle will feature a lithium-ion battery pack, and Toyota is currently investigating the feasibility of mass production at a battery plant in central Japan, owned by Panasonic EV Energy Company, Limited, a joint venture of Toyota and the Matsushita Group. Toyota is also providing its plug-in hybrid prototypes for an executive shuttle service at the auto show.

In addition, Toyota will offer a new clean-diesel V8 engine in both the Tundra truck and Sequoia SUV in the near future. At next year's NAIAS, Toyota and Lexus will expand their conventional hybrid lineups by staging premieres of an all-new dedicated hybrid vehicle for each of their product lines. In Japan, the company has designed a new valve system for gas engines that will reduce fuel usage per mile, reduce carbon dioxide emissions and enhance performance. The valve system, called Valvematic, controls both the valve timing and valve lift in an engine, according to Toyota. Toyota says the system could improve fuel efficiency by 5 percent to 10 percent. The company plans to implement the new technology in all its gas car engines within the next three years.