Toyota To Showcase a Variety of Electric Models
Toyota and its Lexus luxury division, offer more electric-gasoline hybrid vehicles than any other car manufacturer. In the United States only one of those, the Toyota Prius Prime, has a plug. The company’s absence in the battery electric vehicle (BEV) market is curious, as many other manufacturers have jumped in years ago. The question is why Toyota is not a leader in this technology?
Sit tight, as everything is about to change.
At the 2020 Olympics and Paralympic Games, both in Tokyo, Toyota will show off a full line-up of electrified vehicles. Since Toyota does not currently offer any pure electric vehicles, they are going big in 2020. How big? How about 3,700 of what they call a “diverse mobility” mix, that will aim to “achieve the lowest emissions…of any official vehicle fleet used at an Olympic and Paralympic Games.” With 90-percent of the mobility products being electrified, it is easy to see how emissions will be reduced.
The vehicle mix will include Hybrid Electric Vehicles (HEV), Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles (FCHV), Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEV) and Battery Electric Vehicles (BEV).
Beyond Cars
But it isn’t just traditional automobiles that make up Toyota’s diverse mobility plans. There will be cars, buses, small shuttles, scooters, a wheelchair-link and even robots. About 500 of the cars will be the hydrogen fuel cell Toyota Mirai sedan, which has been sold in America since 2015. They will even have fuel cell forklifts made through their industrial products division. The APM, or Accessible People Mover, the e-Palette and the Toyota Concept-i, will be among the 850 battery electric vehicles at the games. This is impressive for a company that has stayed away from electric vehicles for so long.
Toyota also is going all-out with advanced preventive safety technologies, so the thousands of international visitors will be safe going from venue to venue. The Toyota Safety Sense and Lexus Safety Sense systems, which can be found on Toyota and Lexus vehicles currently sold in America, will also be equipped with Intelligent Clearance Sonar. This technology will assist braking to avoid or prevent accidents in the event of a misapplication of the accelerator pedal.
Toyota’s three main pillars for Tokyo 2020 center on Mobility for All, Sustainability and Transportation. Combined, these will provide mobility solutions that go beyond the traditional provision of vehicles.
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