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New levels of environmental & power performance compatibility based on the concept of Hybrid Synergy Drive
In search of the ultimate eco-car
Toyota's mission has always been to provide clean and safe products. Thus, the company has positioned the environment as one of its most important issues and has been working toward creating a prosperous society and a world that is comfortable to live in. With this goal in mind, Toyota has been actively developing various new technologies from the perspective of achieving energy security and diversifying energy sources, which is necessitated by the dwindling supply of petroleum resources. For example, in motive power sources for automobiles alone, we have been continuously improving conventional engines and have developed and commercialized lean-burn gasoline engines, direct injection gasoline engines and common rail direct-injection diesel engines, etc. We have also been modifying engines so that they can use alternative fuels, such as compressed natural gas (CNG), instead of gasoline or light oil, and have been installing these engines in commercially sold vehicles. Toyota has also developed and has been marketing electric vehicles (EV) that use motors for the driving source; hybrid vehicles (HV) that combine an engine and a motor, fusing the advantages of these two power sources; fuel cell hybrid vehicles (FCHV) that use fuel cells (FC) to generate electricity based on a chemical reaction between hydrogen and the oxygen in the air and that supply this electricity to electric motors to produce driving power.
This is all part of our search for the ultimate eco-car.
*Direct Injection 4-stroke Gasoline Engine
**Variable Valve Timing with Intelligence
In January 1997, Toyota declared the start of the Toyota Eco Project. As part of this effort, Toyota decided to tackle the international challenge of reducing CO2 emissions in order to prevent global warming and accelerated the development of a hybrid vehicle with the goal of achieving twice the fuel efficiency of conventional vehicles. Then, in March of the same year, Toyota announced the completion of a new power train called the Toyota Hybrid System (THS) for use in passenger vehicles. This power train combines a gasoline engine and an electric motor, and because it does not require external charging, as do existing electric vehicles, it works within existing infrastructures such as fueling facilities. This system also achieves nearly twice the fuel efficiency of conventional gasoline engines.
THS was installed in the passenger vehicle Prius, which was introduced in December 1997 in the Japanese market as the first mass-produced hybrid passenger vehicle in the world. In 2000, overseas marketing of the Prius began. The Prius has gained a reputation as a highly innovative vehicle, and its cumulative worldwide sales have exceeded 110,000 units. Meanwhile, THS has continued to evolve, and in 2001, THS-C, which combines THS with CVT (continuously variable transmission), was installed in the Estima Hybrid minivan and THS-M (a mild hybrid system) was installed in the Crown, luxury sedan, both for the Japanese market thereby contributing greatly to innovations in the automobiles of the 21st century.
Building on the ecology-focused THS, Toyota has developed the concept of Hybrid Synergy Drive. Based on this concept, Toyota has developed a new-generation Toyota hybrid system called THS II, which achieves 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 has positioned hybrid technology as its key technology. Beginning with the development of EVs and through the commercialization of HVs and FCHVs, its continued efforts have now culminated in the development of THS II. Toyota will continue to endeavor to make technical advances in this area.
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