The author | Wang Yunpeng
Produced | automotive grand view
The American science fiction writer William Ford Gibson once said, "The future has come, but it has not yet become popular." At present, as far as the current situation of the use of new energy is concerned, "the future has come and is becoming popular." ”
Far from it, take the recently concluded Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games as an example. In addition to "Ice Ribbon", "Snow Ruyi", "Snow Dragon", "Ice Cube"... In addition to the Winter Olympic venues with distinct traditional Chinese cultural colors and fashion sense in these names, the realization of "100% 'green electricity' operation" is also the most eye-catching highlight of this Winter Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games.
It is worth mentioning that while the venues achieve "100% 'green electricity' operation", the means of transportation running outside the venue have also added a "touch of green" to the Winter Olympic Games and the Winter Paralympic Games. According to the official statistics of the Beijing Winter Olympic Organizing Committee, the use of energy-saving and clean energy vehicles during the Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games reached 85.84%, which was the highest in the previous Winter Olympics and Winter Paralympic Games.
Among them, the biggest contributor is toyota motor vehicle, the first automobile company to establish a global partnership with the International Olympic Committee and the International Paralympic Committee in the field of mobility. It is reported that during the Winter Olympics, Toyota Motor delivered 2,205 official vehicles to the Beijing Winter Olympic Organizing Committee, including 140 FCEVs (hydrogen fuel cell) models of the second-generation MIRAI that were put into large-scale use for the first time in China, and 107 Costa hydrogen engines (including 2 welfare vehicles) developed and designed for the exchange meeting, operating as athlete shuttle buses in Yanqing and Zhangjiakou areas.
Second generation MIRAI
During the Winter Olympics, Toyota's FCEV models have a cumulative mileage of 397,104km and reduce CO2 emissions by 113,737.44kg. With quite excellent results, we will help the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games to implement the "green" concept.
After the Winter Olympics, Toyota will also actively promote the subsequent reuse of FCEVs in the transportation service vehicles of this event, and hopes to take this as an opportunity to continuously promote the development of China's hydrogen fuel cell industry.
Costa Hydrogen Engine
Once upon a time, because of its caution and not as quickly as some other car companies entered the field of electric vehicles, Toyota was once labeled as an electrified "conservative". However, judging from the Beijing Winter Olympics and The Winter Paralympic Games, the current Toyota is no longer the "Toyota that hesitates in the electrification transformation" that people think.
In particular, with the timetable set by the goal of "carbon peaking and carbon neutrality" and setting a new strategic benchmark for the operation of the global automotive industry, Toyota Motor's journey towards carbon neutrality and every step of the way to help build a low-carbon society has become clearer and clearer.
A pioneer on the road to "carbon reduction"
At present, "carbon reduction" has become the common goal of the world's major economies. The Chinese government announced that it will achieve carbon peaking by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2060; the EU 27 countries have decided to increase emission reductions by 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality by 2050; the Biden administration has announced that the United States will return to the Paris climate agreement...
In this context, the automotive industry, as a major carbon emitter, is also actively taking action, especially automakers are actively exploring carbon reduction paths to help achieve the goal of "double carbon", and Toyota Motor is one of the representatives.
In fact, as a global 10 million-vehicle scale car company, Toyota Motor has always had a deep accumulation in the field of environmental protection. In 1993, Toyota Motor launched a project called the G21, proposing to produce "the cars needed by the earth in the 21st century." Four years later, Toyota launched the world's first mass-produced hybrid model, the PRIUS.
Since then, Toyota Motor has gradually established a complete electrification technology route covering HEV/PHEV/BEV/FCEV, starting from Prius, realizing coverage from passenger cars to commercial vehicles, and becoming a global leading brand that has always adhered to all-round electrification technology.
However, these achievements did not satisfy Toyota. In 2015, Toyota Motor corporation released the "Toyota Environmental Challenge 2050" strategy, which aims to "make the negative impact of automobiles infinitely close to zero" and "bring positive energy to society". Aim to reduce the average global CO2 emissions from new vehicles by 90% compared with 2010 by 2050.
At the same time, combined with the basic concept that "environmentally friendly vehicles can only truly contribute to the environment if they are popularized", it can be said that Toyota Motor has carved the sustainable development concept of "society, people and the earth" into its own genes from the beginning.
What is more worth mentioning is that this concept of Toyota Motor Has a more fashionable name at the moment, that is, "carbon neutrality".
In 2020, Toyota Motor and including Yihuatong, FAW, Dongfeng, GAC, and BAIC, established a joint fuel cell system research and development (Beijing) Co., Ltd. In 2021, Toyota once again established Huafeng Fuel Cell Co., Ltd. as a joint venture with Yihuatong. Both companies are committed to helping China achieve carbon neutrality through the localization of hydrogen fuel cells in the development and production.
It can be said that whether it is a forward-looking concept, a deep technical accumulation, or a perfect strategic layout, it shows that carbon neutrality has long become the "top-level design" of Toyota Motor, and it is connected from top to bottom.
Moving towards the goal of "double carbon" with all-round electrification
Tesla seems to be a recognized representative of the industry when it comes to setting off the world's energy revolution.
Because since the launch of the Model S in 2012, the California-based company has inspired a strong belief in the abandonment of traditional energy sources around the world and a beautiful vision of a new energy society.
However, "carbon neutrality" is a grand vision, and the automotive industry wants to rely only on the path of "pure electricity" to achieve its goals, which does not seem to be in line with objective laws.
For this, Toyota has long foreseen this. Therefore, Toyota Motor motor proposed that if the automobile industry wants to achieve the goal of carbon neutrality, it is necessary to provide consumers with richer choices for low-carbon travel, so that consumers can freely choose travel services and products that take into account sustainable development and practicality according to different regions, different purposes and different use scenarios.
In other words, compared with the lane change overtaking of Chinese local brands and the successive All in pure electricity of German and American brands, Toyota Motor is brewing a set of all-round electrification technologies for the future.
Toyota says so and does the same. According to public information, since the launch of the world's first mass-produced HEV model Prius in 1997, Toyota Motor has continued to provide users with a variety of choices in the field of heV/PHEV/BEV/FCEV in the field of all-round electrification. By February 2022, Toyota's cumulative global sales of electrified models exceeded 20 million units, reducing CARBON dioxide emissions by 160 million tons and saving 65 billion liters of fuel.
According to Toyota's calculations, since the introduction of the HEV model, the CO2 emissions of 5.5 million EV models have been reduced, while the battery consumption is only equivalent to the consumption of about 260,000 EV models. In other words, Toyota reduced co2 emissions from 5.5 million EV models with batteries equivalent to 260,000 EV models.
If only from the above data, Toyota has indeed made a considerable contribution to "carbon reduction". But if you look at achieving the goal of carbon neutrality for the entire automotive industry, this contribution is still not enough.
In order to better promote the application and popularization of all-round electrified models, Toyota Motor is also constantly cooperating with partners. For example, in the HEV area, Toyota has carried out related work mainly by providing patents free of charge.
In terms of FCEVs, in 2019, Toyota Motor and Tsinghua University cooperated to set up a joint research institute to jointly carry out research such as the active use and application of hydrogen; in 2020, it set up a commercial vehicle fuel cell system research and development, production and sales company with a number of Chinese partners to promote the popularization of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles and the construction of a hydrogen energy society.
In the author's view, Toyota Motor's accelerating all-round electrification technology is promoting its own development while also promoting the development of China's new energy vehicle industry and the realization of the goal of carbon neutrality in the automotive industry.
Build a mobile society of the future with zero emissions throughout the process
Every "decarbonization" of energy will change the development process of human civilization, and in the current automotive industry, the "double carbon" goal has become the "general baton". But if we only understand the "carbon neutrality" of the automobile industry as the electrification of the car itself, it is undoubtedly superficial.
For cars, achieving carbon neutrality is not as simple as replacing the engine with an electric motor. As Toyota mentioned in the "2050 Environmental Challenge", in addition to relying on the advancement of vehicle technology, the automotive industry must reduce carbon dioxide emissions from all aspects of vehicle production, use and recycling to achieve carbon neutrality.
Therefore, Toyota has chosen to reduce carbon dioxide emissions in manufacturing, storage, use, recycling, and waste disposal through its own efforts and innovative practices from the perspective of the whole life cycle.
Take hydrogen fuel cell technology as an example. At the usage level, Toyota Motor has developed the TL Power 100, a high-power, long-lasting hydrogen fuel cell system suitable for commercial vehicle use in China, together with Chinese partners.
"Helping China achieve carbon neutrality with environmental technologies." It is precisely because it has always adhered to this belief of "vision and pattern", Toyota Motor's electrification transformation has embarked on a completely different path from the beginning, that is, always adhering to and practicing carbon neutrality and "sustainable human development".
Focusing on the Chinese market again, as a car company that has been rooted in China for more than 30 years, Toyota Motor has also been using practical actions to help the sustainable development of Chinese society, and "mass production happiness" for Chinese consumers and Chinese society.