Japanese Auto Makers Set Goals for Green Technology
Honda plans to cut CO2 emissions 30% throughout its entire vehicle lineup by 2020, compared with 2000 levels. To reach that target, it will introduce six new engines and three CVTs.
December 15, 2011
TOKYO – Thousands of visitors recently crammed into the Big Sight exhibition center trying to get a final peek at the 42nd biennial Tokyo Motor Show here, showing some of the latest in technology from Japan’s home industry.
In all, the 10-day event saw 842,600 attendees, up 37% from the 2009 show, who learned about a number of environmentally friendly initiatives planned by the domestic auto makers.
Honda was the biggest newsmaker with plans to cut carbon-dioxide emissions 30% throughout its entire vehicle lineup by 2020 compared with 2000 levels. To reach that target, the auto maker will introduce six new engines and three continuously variable transmissions over the next three years. The CVTs are for mini, compact and midsize cars.
The gasoline engines, most to be equipped with direct-injection and stop/start systems, will include a 4-cyl. 0.66L, 1.5L, 1.8L and 2.4L, as well as a 3.6L mated to a V-6. Honda also will introduce a new 1.6L diesel.
The auto maker has set a goal to be No.1 in the industry in fuel economy, but provides no target.
Honda management confirms plans to introduce a 2-motor hybrid in 2012 and new electric SH-AWD system in 2013. Additionally, a senior research engineer reveals the next-generation Insight, due out in 2015 or 2016, will feature an all-new hybrid system capable of achieving 30% greater fuel economy. He indicates the auto maker is considering a 2-motor system for the car.
Honda’s plug-in hybrid, due out by the end of 2012, will employ a lithium-ion battery with 6 kWh of energy. The auto maker plans to sell more than 1,000 units in the model’s first year in the U.S. and Japan.
Honda currently is testing the plug-in system in Accord and Inspire models. The battery will be supplied by Blue Energy, Honda’s joint venture with GS Yuasa.
But for the Fit electric vehicle scheduled to be launched next summer, Honda will use a 20-kWh Li-ion battery pack supplied by Toshiba. Plans are to lease 1,100 of the small electrified cars in the U.S., but no decision has been reached on volumes for the Japanese and European markets.
Fit EV leases will be for three years, says Yasuyuki Sando, Honda’s chief engineer and large project leader-EV and plug-in hybrid programs. He estimates the auto maker will have to sell 100,000 units annually to bring Li-ion battery costs down to $250-$300/kWh levels.
Sando also says Toshiba’s battery has excellent degradation and cold-performance properties, thus the decision to switch from Blue Energy.
Rival Toyota confirms Panasonic-subsidiary Sanyo Electric will supply the Prius plug-in hybrid and Scion iQ EV with Li-ion battery packs. The Prius unit is 4.4 kWh.
Sanyo says it also will supply the electric drive system for Suzuki’s e-Let’s electric scooter to be launched in January. The drive system includes a motor built into the wheel hub and a Panasonic Li-ion battery.
Toyota, which will introduce the plug-in Prius near the end of January, plans yearly sales of 60,000 units in the car’s first year, including 35,000 in Japan. The remaining 25,000 will be in the U.S. and Europe.
Soichi Kaneko, a Toyota senior project engineer, believes the plug-in Prius eventually will replace the current hybrid model and might succeed it at the next full-model change.
Chief among the plug-in Prius’ advantage over the Chevrolet Volt is that it seats five, compared with the Volt’s four, and is less costly to develop as many components, including motor and power-control unit, are carryovers from the conventional Prius. However, the electric range is lower.
Toyota plans to list the plug-in model for ¥2.75 million ($35,500) in Japan, after subsidies by the government. In the U.S it will sell for $32,000.
Toyota also unveils a fuel cell-powered sedan, the FCV-R, which has a cruising range of more than 437 miles (700 km).
Without providing stack dimensions, Masato Kawaii, project general manager, says the stack can be fitted under the front seat, as it is about half the size of the previous unit installed into the engine compartment of the FCHV-adv, a fuel-cell vehicle based on the Highlander SUV.
The auto maker plans to introduce the FCV-R in 2015, although no decisions have been made about volumes.
In the EV segment, Toyota’s FT-EV III, which features a smaller battery pack than Nissan’s Leaf or Mitsubishi’s i-MiEV, also has shorter cruising range of 65 miles (105 km). The electrified car, which will be sold as the Scion iQ EV in the U.S., is equipped with an 11-kWh Li-ion battery compared with 24 kWh for the Leaf and 16 kWh for the i-MiEV.
Nissan is looking to sell a record 4.75 million vehicles in the fiscal year ending March 31, despite the adverse effects on its operations due to the massive earthquake and tsunami in Japan this spring and flooding in Thailand this autumn.
Mitsuhiko Yamashita, Nissan executive vice president-research and design, clarifies the auto maker’s position regarding its 2020 global EV forecast. Nissan is targeting 10% of its own sales and not predicting 10% of industry sales will be EVs. “We believe that if we aim for 10% we can accomplish it. It’s our commitment,” he says.
Mitsubishi President Osamu Masuko says his company has lowered its EV sales target to 21,000 units in fiscal 2011, down from its earlier 25,000-unit sales target. He attributes the expected shortfall to the March earthquake and tsunami that hit i-MiEV production more than other Mitsubishi models. The auto maker has not changed its fiscal-2012 target of 50,000 units.
Mitsubishi introduced the Minicab-MiEV to the Japanese market this month and will follow with the launch of its first plug-in hybrid in 2013. That model will be based on the PX-MiEV II, which was at the Tokyo show.
Mazda executives indicate they plan to sell 100 Demio EVs when the auto maker begins leasing the car in 2012. Retail sales of the model will start by 2018.
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