Author | Dapeng Tian
Edited by | Wang Xin
Source | Car Prophet
On February 4, the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics will officially open, and Beijing will become the only city in the world that has hosted both the Summer Olympic Games and the Winter Olympic Games. As a global sports event, the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games have become the focus of all international communities since the date of preparation, of which the concept of "green Olympics" is reflected in all aspects.
As a global partner of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, Toyota Motor supplied a total of 2,205 Toyota products to the Organizing Committee during the Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games. It is understood that these vehicles will serve the entire Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games, and after the closure of the Olympic Games, these vehicles and related infrastructure will be converted to new uses, and all will continue to play a role in China.
Before the opening of the Beijing Winter Olympic Games, Niu Yu, director of the new Olympic Business Department of Toyota Motor (China) Investment Co., Ltd., elaborated on Toyota's car services in the Winter Olympic Games and the Winter Paralympic Games in an interview with auto visionaries and other media.
"Who" are all 2205 Toyota Winter Olympic service vehicles?
According to Niu Yu, as a global partner of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, Toyota Motor has provided 2,205 products for the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games in the field of mobility. In terms of specific models, it basically covers FAW Toyota and GAC Toyota's models on sale. Cars include The Asian Dragon, Camry, Corolla, Ralink and more. SUV including Crown Land Release, Highlander, Rongfang, Willanda, and the CHR and Yize EV models currently sold in China are also included in the category of 2205 units.
It is worth noting that among these 2205 vehicles, there are 140 Toyota second-generation MIRAI hydrogen fuel cell passenger cars and 107 Costa fuel cell powertrain models, achieving true zero carbon emissions.
This is the first time that Toyota has officially introduced the second-generation MIRAI hydrogen fuel cell passenger car to the Chinese market, and has achieved large-scale practical application. The Costa Hydrogen Engine is a hydrogen fuel cell vehicle specially developed for the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, which is developed by TMEC (Toyota China Research and Development Center) and produced by Sichuan FAW Toyota.
Up to now, according to the official statistical results of the Beijing Winter Olympic Organizing Committee, energy-saving and clean energy vehicles account for 100% of the passenger cars and 85.84% of all vehicles in the transportation service vehicles of the Winter Olympic Games, which is the highest in the previous Winter Olympics. This coincides with Toyota's path of "carbon neutrality". According to Toyota's previous new target plan for 2030, among the 8 million electrified models sold by Toyota worldwide, hydrogen fuel cell models and pure electric vehicles will reach 2 million, an increase of 1 million units over the original target, and the proportion of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles will continue to increase on the basis of the original target.
In order to maximize the implementation of the concept of "green Olympic Games", many commercial vehicles equipped with the hydrogen fuel cell system developed by Toyota have been put into use, including 212 Beiqi Foton buses equipped with Toyota's hydrogen fuel cell system. In addition, Toyota, as the system supplier, will also invest in the relevant technologies of the United Fuel Cell System Research and Development (Beijing) Co., Ltd., which was previously established in conjunction with six car companies, and will also be invested in the Winter Olympics and Paralympic Games.
In addition, as another highlight of the 2205 vehicles, Toyota Motor also provided 247 welfare vehicles to the organizing committee of the event, including Costa, Hai Ace and GAC Toyota Sai na three products, of which Hai Ace and Xena are hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, which will serve Winter Paralympic athletes.
What has Toyota done to ensure vehicle delivery and adoption?
During the exchange, auto visionaries learned that during the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics and Paralympic Winter Games, Toyota Motor co., ltd. in addition to the launch of 2205 vehicle applications, but also sent a service assurance technical team. It is understood that the service assurance team, together with TMCI R&D Center, FAW Toyota, GAC Toyota and Toyota China, plus Beijing dealer partners, jointly formed a service assurance operation team, with an overall scale of 84 people.
According to the division of the event, the service guarantee operation team of 84 people will focus on the three divisions of Beijing, Yanqing and Zhangjiakou, and park their vehicles at the stations of each division. According to the requirements of epidemic prevention, the service team cannot enter the closed-loop management red line area under normal conditions, and these service support personnel choose to stay in the hotel near the venue or provide standby support in the 4S store. Once the situation occurs, the technician can arrive at the scene at the first time to understand the relevant situation.
In addition to ensuring that the guarantee mechanism is foolproof, during the preparations for the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, Toyota is also actively formulating corresponding measures in the face of the biggest uncertainties of the repeated epidemics. For example, GAC Toyota's model was originally planned to be transferred to the Beijing Winter Olympics through Tianjin Port, but in the logistics and transportation process, due to the epidemic in Tianjin, if the delivery of vehicles according to the original route may be delayed. In this regard, Toyota reloaded the vehicle into the dalian port, and then land transported from the dalian port to Beijing, and through this adjustment, the vehicle delivery was finally completed ahead of schedule.
All plans are based on advance preparation. It is understood that in order to do a good job in the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games services, including Toyota Motor President Akio Toyoda, senior executives have always paid attention to the progress of related activities, and even participated in the design and finalization of specific vehicles. During the preparatory process, Akio Toyoda repeatedly communicated with the leaders of Beijing Municipality and the Organizing Committee of the Beijing Winter Olympic Games to achieve the best service.
In addition to providing regular cars, toyota e-Palette, known as the "future of travel", will also be unveiled at the Winter Olympics. It is understood that the car can achieve L4 automatic driving at low speed, is a customizable multi-seat multi-functional car, of which the special specification e-Palette for the Winter Olympics will be used as an automatic bus to provide mobile travel services for relevant personnel of the Games.
In addition, the vehicle is also used for logistics and transportation, mobile shops, mobile offices and mobile hospitals. At the previous Tokyo Olympics, the Toyota e-Palette could accommodate up to 20 passengers inside. This time, the Toyota e-Palette will make it easier for wheelchair passengers to get on and off the bus through lower chassis, electric ramps and other facilities.
Niu Yu, Director of the New Olympic Division of Toyota Motor (China) Investment Co., Ltd
In the exchange with Niu Yu, the car prophet also learned about a very Toyota characteristic situation, compared with the sponsor to engage in special targeted product services, Toyota motor said that the products used for the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games and the vehicles sold on the market are unified standards in terms of quality assurance. In Toyota's view, for every car sold, Toyota needs to be responsible for the quality of the vehicle. Quality is Toyota's first pursuit.
The vehicles and infrastructure of the Olympic Closing Games have been localized
Toyota has served the 2018 Winter Olympic Games in Pyeongchang, the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, and the future 2024 Paris Olympics after becoming a global partner of the International Olympic Committee and the International Paralympic Committee in 2017.
In Toyota's view, Toyota takes the opportunity to support the Olympic games, on the one hand, to support the training and competition of athletes and the spirit of challenge in the Olympic Games, and on the other hand, to achieve self-challenge within Toyota. Therefore, Toyota's support for the Olympic Games has a slogan called "start your impossible" – to the impossible to say no.
The Beijing Winter Olympics are considered by Toyota to be a new milestone in the development of China's business, especially hydrogen fuel cell technology, which will be a very important area for Toyota's future new business in China. Taking infrastructure hydrogen refueling stations as an example, Toyota has built hydrogen refueling stations of different specifications in Yanqing and Zhangjiakou areas, among which Toyota Mirai and FC Costa use 70 megapascal hydrogen storage tanks to provide hydrogen refueling services for vehicles during the race.
Toyota already has a corresponding plan for the use and arrangement of vehicles after the closure of the future Olympic Games. On hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, Toyota will combine the actual needs of the market to keep these vehicles in China. It will continue to play a corresponding role in the corresponding areas, including the construction of infrastructure in various regions. In terms of service, Toyota will continue to provide perfect after-sales service. In other words, after the end of the Olympic Games, Toyota's products and resources will continue to play a role in transforming new uses, which also means that Toyota's business in China will usher in a new stage of development.