Green Options

Beginning this summer, a small EV from Mitsubishi will be available on the market in Japan. The i MiEV will be the first mass scale EV production car available from any major auto manufacturer. Although a seemingly unlikely coup, Mitsubishi has been quietly putting great effort into EV development for many years.

Editor’s Note: This is part three of an interview Tetsuya Yokoyama recently had the opportunity to conduct with Honda R&D Chief Engineer, Mr. Yamamoto, at Eco-Products 2008 in Tokyo, Japan. Mr. Yamamoto is greatly involved in the development of Honda’s hybrid technology including the upcoming 2009 Insight. Read part one here and part two here.
Honda CR-Z lightweight hybrid sports car. Photo: Honda

After talking with Mr. Yamamoto about supercapacitors, I moved on to discuss the possibility of a manual transmission on future hybrid vehicles. He said that it would not be difficult to put a manual transmission into an Integrated Motor Assist (IMA) Hybrid system.

Even though the current Civic hybrids have no option for a manual transmission, a manual transmission was offered on the first generation of that car. The reason the current Civic Hybrid has a continuously variable transmission (CVT) is to increase overall fuel efficiency by automatically letting the system choose the most efficient drive ratio.

While you could potentially get a much better fuel efficiency with a manual transmission if you practice “Ecodriving,” the efficiency would go down significantly if you choose lower gears more often or drove more aggressively.

English tours at Japan’s largest eco-fair show international visitors the hottest green gadgets from a country renown for technological innovation.

At RICOH booth, we saw the demonstration of a new erasable advance paper. Printed document on this advance paper can be erased by ironing and be ready for another round of printing.
I had an opportunity to take the English guided tour at Eco-Products 2008. The Eco-Products exhibition is one of the largest green fairs in Japan, showing all kinds of green products and services to the public. The event draws a large number of visitors. It’s possibly the world’s largest event of its kind. The tenth Eco-Products 2008 exhibition was successful enough to attract 173,917 visitors this year according to the event organizer.

Visitors came from all over the world to see the latest of Japanese green activities. To accommodate such foreign visitors, guided tours in English, Chinese and Korean, were offered for free by volunteer staff from Japan for Sustainability (JFS) and EcoNetworks (ENW). The English guided tours were offered twice during the three-day event, but you needed to register for the tour beforehand at JFS’s website.

Our tour was guided by Frank H. Ling Ph.D. from USA, who works as a researcher for the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies in Japan. Our group had five visitors including me plus a lead guide, Mr. Ling, with a few more staff for additional assistance.

Panasonic is fast becoming a brand name not just for electronics but also for green building products.

Eco-Products 2008 recently held in Tokyo, showcased a series of award-winning green products and services. The E Floor from Panasonic was shortlisted for the awards. The Eco Product Awards is presented by four organizations including the Global Environmental Forum, a non-profit organization under the jurisdiction of Japan’s Ministry of Environment.

The Nikkei Newspaper has reported that Hino Motors, Ltd., a subsidiary of Toyota Motor Corporation will introduce a significantly improved fuel efficient hybrid truck in Japan, the U.S. and Australia around 2010.

The new hybrid truck, using a high-capacity battery and improved motor, will be 2.5 times more fuel efficient than conventional models. In fact, the new hybrid truck even doubles the fuel economy compared to Hino’s current hybrid truck models (pictured above). Hino introduced its first light-duty hybrid trucks in 2003 and medium-duty hybrid trucks in 2004.

I recently had a chance to ride along in a Mazda RX-8 Hydrogen RE at Eco-Products 2008 in Japan — a green event held for three days in Tokyo.

Mazda RX-8 Hydrogen RE and Mercedes-Benz Smart on road.

Several green vehicles were on hand at the event for visitors to take on approximately 10 minute rides. The cars you could pick from were: the Toyota FCHV-adv (fuel cell), the Nissan Clean Diesel X-TRAIL 20GT, the Subaru Plug-in Stella Concept (EV), the Audi Cabriolet A4 S-line 3.0 TDI (Diesel), the Mazda RX-8 Hydrogen RE, the Mitsubishi i MiEV (EV), the Mercedes-Benz Smart, and the Velotaxi.

I chose the Mazda RX-8 Hydrogen RE because I thought sitting in that type of car must be a very rare opportunity. I also wanted an up close real-world experience with a car that uses a rotary engine and can switch back and forth between gasoline and hydrogen fuel.

Editor’s Note: This is part two of an interview Tetsuya Yokoyama recently had the opportunity to conduct with Honda R&D Chief Engineer, Mr. Yamamoto, at Eco-Products 2008 in Tokyo, Japan. You can read part one here. Mr. Yamamoto is greatly involved in the development of Honda’s hybrid technology including the upcoming 2009 Insight.

As I mentioned in part one of my interview, Honda first introduced the ultracapacitor with the J-VX concept. The J-VX ultimately led to the original production Insight, without the ultracapacitor. Honda also used the ultracapacitor technology on the FCX models (pre-Clarity) for years.

Honda developed their original ultracapacitors, and improved them during the period of FCX development and explains more about it on their web site.

The Nikkei newspaper has reported that Nissan is planning to invest a total of ¥100 billion (about $1.1 billion US) or more to manufacture lithium ion batteries.

Nissan has accelerated its plan to produce large-capacity lithium ion batteries for around 200,000 vehicles. The company is working with NEC group and plans to set up factories in Japan, Europe, and the United States. Honda is also planning on producing up to 500,000 lithium ion batteries for hybrid vehicles by mid-2010.

Editor’s Note: This is the part one of an interview Tetsuya Yokoyama recently had the opportunity to conduct with Honda R&D Chief Engineer, Mr. Yamamoto at Eco-Products 2008 in Tokyo, Japan. Mr. Yamamoto is greatly involved in the development of Honda’s hybrid technology including the upcoming 2009 Insight.

I’d like to thank all the readers who responded to my previous article with questions I could pose to Mr. Yamamoto. I’d also like to thank InsightCentral.net members for responding to that article too! I really appreciate your input, and apologize for taking so long to write this article.

After talking a bit about Green Options Media, Gas 2.0 and Insight Central, the very first question I asked him was about the possibility of using an ultracapacitor in a future Honda hybrid. More than ten years ago, the Integrated Motor Assist (IMA) power train was first introduced with the J-VX concept and was originally developed with an ultracapacitor instead of NiMH batteries.

Mr. Yamamoto explained that Honda engineers have researched ultracapacitor technology in the past but that the technology, although promising, is still too new and has several challenges to overcome. In the end, Honda decided to go with NiMH batteries on the first generation of Insight in consideration of mass production and quality control.

In a just-announced revised product development plan, Honda says they will concentrate on hybrid and compact vehicles.
Honda will start selling the 2009 Insight in Japan this Spring with a price targeted under 2,000,000 yen ($22,325). Honda has previously announced the new Insight will go on sale in the US at a price starting under $18,500.

Additionally, a new sporty hybrid based on the CR-Z concept will be introduced in 2010, and Honda is considering mid- and large-size models in the hybrid line up.

Honda also will develop a small diesel engine and plans on introducing an electric motorcycle two years from now.