Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
battery reloading stations. All past experi-
ences show that the development of areas
to reload battery was limited
• Reliability:
The lifetime of electric engine
is six times higher than the one of inter-
nal combustion engines. Hence, the mas-
sive adoption of EV would imply a radical
transformation of the entire car value-chain
with heavy social consequences for the car
industry (manufacturers, retailers, repair-
men, car leasing companies, etc).
its HEV Prius a mass-market innovation. Another
case study seems promising: the Renault-Nissan
partnership with Better Place. As regards the
Honda strategy to target hydrogen engine around
2020 seems to be the most prospective but the
riskiest innovation.
Complementary Sectoral Strategies
to Cope with the Transition to
a Low Carbon Economy in the
Short, Medium and Longer Term
Hybrid or EV options reduce or lead to zero
direct emissions, however it shifts the responsi-
bility for decarbonisation towards the power or
hydrogen production sectors. A true decarboni-
sation of the transport sector will not only come
from the substitution of fossil fuel to power (with
the improvement of the emission intensity ratio
evoked previously) but will need to be accompa-
nied by a profound revision and a more integrated
vision of urban and inter-urban mobility. This
assessment and the difficulties acknowledge for
the emergence of EV raise some questions to the
strategies that the different car manufacturers are
now developing:
•
An incremental strategy to prepare 21st
century environmental challenge: Toyota
Prius project
Toyota Prius model was launched in Tokyo in
December 2007. Prius is based on internal combus-
tion hybrids. It combines an engine and a motor
to distribute power efficiently and recover kinetic
energy during deceleration, converting it to electri-
cal energy for storage in a battery. As mentioned
in a case study developed by the World Business
Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD,
2005), a transversal group was set up in the early
nineties to prepare the Toyota's 21st century car.
Conclusions can be briefly sum up in two main
ideas: the new car should be environmental-
friendly and equivalent in comfort compared
with “present” cars. In a first step, they aimed to
reach a 50% increase in fuel efficiency. Under the
pressure of the executive vice-president, Akihido
Wada, an objective of 100% increase in fuel ef-
ficiency was defined. There was no choice, it
required some radical innovations. Thus, based on
several years of heterogeneous and discontinuous
research works on hydride engine systems such
as highly efficient gasoline engines, advanced
electric motors, more than hundred different con-
figurations were tested. Eventually, based on thirty
years of Toyota's hybrid heritage, the company
succeeded to develop a hybrid electric vehicle
(HEV) dedicated to mass market. Seven months
•
Are the current emerging EV strategies
radically different from the past?
•
Are they diverging from of a pure techno-
logical approach? It seems that in the past
experiences, the EV strategies rather focus
on technological and technical elements
rather than consider the broader socio-eco-
nomic context that will be necessary for
the EV to emerge.
•
Are the more pro-active constructors an-
ticipating the need to integrate all these as-
pects to move from a business focused on
cars to a broader apprehension of mobility?
If in the 2000s, no experience broke success-
fully on the mass-market, the situation in 2010
