The Technology Context – B101

Toyota Prius 1.5 T3

Background, Objectives and Current Status

The company Toyota has the rumour of producing the most comfortable, nicest and fastest cars in the world. Is that the reason behind their high sales these recent years? Or is it, the recent desire to produce environmentally friendly cars. In 2004, the guardian produced a list of its top green cars and Toyota Prius 1.5 T3 was one of the top cars; beaten only by the Honda Civic 1.3 IMA Executive. However, recent Toyota Prius models like the 2007 model will be larger inside and out, now a mid-size vehicle, has even better fuel consumption, and is a hatchback.

As most objectives of hybrid cars Toyota also wants to produce cars that will be seen as the best for the environment. However, Toyota takes it further by aiming to mass produce these cars in more locations than any other company (Honda...etc.....) in the world. This is because at the moment they are only mass produced in the United States of America significantly produced less in the U.K. However, recent changes have made sure that the production has increased vividly in the U.K. and Toyota’s main goal is to increase their production globally.

In today’s hybrid vehicle market the Toyota Prius drive system is currently considered the leader in electrical, mechanical, and manufacturing innovations. It is significant that in today’s market place Toyota is able to manufacture and sell the vehicle for a profit. This is not a big surprise as Toyota always aims to please their customers yet maintaining its huge profits. A good example is the newest addition to the Prius family; Toyota Prius Model 2008. Show on the picture below.



Sustainable Technology Issue

A question asked by people is; what has an environment friendly car got to do with sustainable technology? The answer is simply that carbon dioxide (CO2) is a problem and is increasing and it needs to be dealt with. Therefore, these cars keep the air cleaner and are a step away from causing global warming.



The bar graph was data from 1990 and 1999; comparing the emissions of CO2 each year and it is clear that the emission of petroleum is the highest and increasing savagely as well. This shows that we as a world can reduce CO2 Emission by using environment friendly cars which uses Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) and Bio-Diesel. These fuels reduce emissions by a vast amount and cause less wear and tear to vehicles.



This pie chart shows what is going to happen if we continue the way we do. It clearly shows that oil is practically half the reason for so much Carbon Dioxide Emissions. Petroleum is one of the fuels derived from oil. This goes back to the point suggesting that; by using environment friendly cars we can reduce CO2 emissions by a vast amount.

In conclusion, environment friendly cars are one of the ways to reduce CO2; as cars are one of high contributors to the rise of carbon dioxide due to their mass production and usage around the world. I believe that cars are the most suitable way to reduce CO2 because it is the main way of transport for people locally, nationally and globally. I am from a third world country and even there; a car is the most used transport.

Possible Technical Alternatives and Consequences

Toyota has been criticised for producing their hybrid cars too expensive and therefore being very pricey on the market. However, I argue that this is because the Prius is very energy efficient and one of the best when it comes to the hybrid cars. For example, on the 2004 Prius model; Toyota improved the motor performance without increasing the motor size. In fact, the motor core length is even slightly shorter in the 2004 model (3.3 in. versus 3.5 in.). In dissecting the motor, ORNL researchers assessed that the windings of the 2004 and 2003 models have the same gauge wires, same number of turns per coil, same winding distribution, and the same stator punching. The only difference between the stators is that the windings are connected in series instead of in parallel in the 2004 model.

In more detail, Toyota tries to improve the quality of their hybrid cars by either adding or making their electronic smaller, but better. However, there are consequences and the obvious one is cost. The smaller and more efficient the products become the more expensive they become. However, one might argue the point that the cost is literally the same because as times goes by; prices of products drop. For example, the price of something in 2003 will not be at the same price by 2004. In fact, it might have gone down by as much as 50 percent. In other words, this way a new Prius model will be at the same price as the old one when it was new.

Potential Political and Financial Effects

Politically, I believe that the Prius and other hybrid cars have great influence on government issues to do with environment friendly issues. This is because at the moment the global warming is one of the main issues in the government. Environment friendly cars have been so successful that the Liberal Democrat plan to tackle climate change by having petrol-driven cars banned by the year of 2040. However, this seems a nearly impossible goal when you consider the fact that nearly the whole of U.K. is on petrol-driven cars. Government icons such as David Cameron drives Lexus hybrid car (only because he cannot fit his office staff in a Prius) and Prince Charles himself drives a Toyota Prius. In other words, hybrid cars such as the Prius has have had enormous Governmental influence that even large icons in the political world uses themselves as an example of being environment friendly.

Financially, Toyota is increasing its already huge amount of wealth made by their petrol driven cars; but now boasts a large range of hybrid cars such as the Prius of course. However, while Toyota has large incomes, do the customers suffer? Apparently not; in fact, a hybrid car can save you up to 600 pound (50 Pounds a month) and more depending on which car you choose to drive. For example, while the Toyota Prius uses 104g/km; The Toyota Avensis uses 185g/km. This is a significant difference and means profit in the meaning of fuel money. Looking at all the advantages with an environment friendly car; I believe that everyone is going to be switching from petrol-driven cars to environment friendly cars.

Potential Effects on Sustainable Development

Sustainable development is a widely used term describing the process of improving our quality of life without compromising our future. This means to be sustainable we must consider together the social, environmental and economic results of our actions. In other words, sustain development can be seen as living today with tomorrow in mind. From this, I can say that the environment friendly car is a positive effect on sustainable technology. For example, the Toyota Prius is a very easy, quiet and spacious car making it a very good car for the family and also the fuel is almost half the times as cheap as petrol.



As mentioned before Toyota Prius leads on all hybrid cars with being in the B band (show in the figure above) with 104g/km of CO2 emission. Cars like the Land Rovers lands in the G band (show in the figure above) with 226g/km or more CO2 of CO2 emission. This proves that environment friendly cars (especially the Prius) have a great influence when it comes to sustainable development as petroleum is one of the main contributors to CO2 emission that occurs. However, some have argued that the Prius will not look the part for the younger audience (21 years and below) and adults without families. Who would easily choose a Golf GT Sport or a Vauxhall Vectra over the Prius because of their looks rather that what they can do That is easily fixed with the variety of hybrid cars available. For example, the Honda Civic 2008 which is an environment friendly car yet looks like a sports car. Below is a picture of the car in discussion which looks like its audience is the young generation rather than the average family.



Internet
http://www.toyota.com/prius/index.html
http://www.toyota.co.uk/cgi-bin/toyota/bv/frame_start.jsp?id=MSR_PRIUS
http://cars.about.com/cs/newcarprofiles/p/04_Toyota_Prius.htm
http://www.motortrend.com/oftheyear/car/112_04_coy_win/
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/politics/story/0,,1774464,00.html
http://www.autoblog.com/2005/07/19/prince-charles-buys-a-prius/
http://www.wheels.ca/article/4017
http://2007hybridcars.blogspot.com/2007/09/saab-car-gets-makeover-prince-charles.html

Books
Toyota Prius, '01-'07 - Haynes Editorial
Lightweight Electric/Hybrid Vehicle Design – John Fenton
Hybrid Electric Vehicle Technology Developments
Electric and Hybrid-Electric Vehicles - Society of Automotive Engineers