Green Options » Eco-Products 2008

Exclusive Interview With Honda’s Chief Engineer - Part 3: Manual Transmission on Hybrids and the CR-Z

Tetsuya Yokoyama — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 18:46:28 +0000

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.

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Panasonic Expands Its Product Focus To Include Green Building Products For The Home

Tetsuya Yokoyama — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 02:22:42 +0000

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, developed by Panasonic Electric Works, was given the Chairperson’s Award. 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 E-floor is an extremely durable product made from a 100% recycled hard chip board. According to Panasonic, using this material can be equated to saving forest areas that are 135 times the size of the Tokyo Dome, on an annual basis. Panasonic began selling the E Floor product line over a year ago with a monthly sales target of 170 million yen.

I believe more companies will bring a wide range of their green technologies into their products and services across group companies in coming years.

Related Posts:

Eco Timber Offers Comprehensive Online Green Flooring Guide

Natural Building 101: How To Make an Earthen or Adobe Floor

Eco-Products 2008, One of Japan’s Biggest Environmental Fairs to Open This Week

Related Link:

Panasonic E Floor (in Japanese)

Panasonic E Floor with Award at Eco-Products 2008

Panasonic E Floor at Eco-Products 2008

Image Credits: Panasonic/Tetsuya Yokoyama

Riding Shotgun In the Mazda RX-8 Hydrogen Car - Part 1

Tetsuya Yokoyama — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 16:04:43 +0000

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.

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Exclusive Interview With Honda’s Chief Engineer - Part 2: More on The Ultracapacitor

Tetsuya Yokoyama — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 17:24:49 +0000

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.

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Exclusive Interview With Honda’s Chief Engineer - Part 1: Ultracapacitors

Tetsuya Yokoyama — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 18:29:03 +0000

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.

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Free Eco-Bags Galore at Eco-Products Fair 2008

Tetsuya Yokoyama — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 21:18:05 +0000

As Japanese society becomes more aware of environmental issues, eco-bags have recently gained popularity. A growing number of businesses, including some of the largest retailers, are promoting the use of these bags.

At the Eco-Products 2008 fair, I saw reusable bags everywhere. Many of the exhibits gave away bags to visitors, and almost everyone walking around was carrying one or two of them.

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