Toyota launches Ecodriving campaign across Europe
Click for more images of the 2009 Toyota Prius
Hey look, one more course to learn tips for savvy driving! Toyota has announced plans for an EcoDriving course with Global Action Plan International that will promote smart driving courses for 12,000 Europeans in Spain, Belgium, Iceland, Norway, and the UK. The program, which costs €300,000, is expected to reach 10 additional countries in 2010. According to Toyota, the course can help drivers to reduce their fuel consumptions by 10 percent without purchasing "costly devices or modify their vehicles" just "by making simple changes to every-day driving behaviors, every driver, no matter what kind of vehicle they own." Toyota estimates that knowledge from this course could mean savings of 50 million tons (metric) of CO2 per year, which translates into €20 billion in fuel savings. No, not per family.
The program started in Belgium last year with 5,000 drivers and its estimated impact was calculated in savings of around 415,000 liters of fuel, and over 1,000 tons of CO2 in one year. This is what 71,000 trees (based on the CO2 intake of a Japanese cedar) capture in one year.
Gallery: 2009 Toyota Prius
[Source: Toyota]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
gorr 10:44AM (9/20/2008)
Toyota are an anti-green compagny. They refused putting an inboard water electrolyser that produce hydrogen gas for the engine or fuelcell and they refused investing 100 000$ or a little bit more for making fuel with green algae farming and they are not negociating to buy for a million dollars or a little bit more the invention of genepax that produce electric current for free with just water input and they are ignoring the invention of H.A.W system , a japanese compagny that invented a very efficient internal combustion engine that is fed by hydrogen gas and strait water. They are dead-head that lie every breath they take. They are madscientists and mad-administrators that take orders from goverment big-oil peoples. They don't work for their customers anymore.
Reply
Chris M 5:47PM (9/20/2008)
Gorr, you're ranting again. All of those things you accuse Toyota of not doing, well, NONE of the automakers are doing those things, either! Toyota is not obligated to invest in every crackpot scheme that comes along, they have their own research team busy developing new ideas.
"onboard electrolyzers" cannot produce anywhere near enough H2 fuel to power fuel cells, let alone an inefficient IC engine. Toyota knows that. But I guess you're just going to have to learn the hard way that the Meyers "water car" and all the Meyers imitators are conniving little frauds. Genepax is also running a scam, but using a different bag of tricks to fool the dupes.
The "HAW" design runs on stored hydrogen and uses water to cool the engine and create some steam power, but the range is too short and the costs are too high to be practical. Toyota already knows that, too.
raf 11:28AM (9/20/2008)
who needs a prius when a 2000 renault clio 1.9 dti has better mileage?
I can get 60 U.S. mpg(3.9 L/100KM) on my clio compared to the 45 mpg of the prius.
Reply
Chris M 5:28PM (9/20/2008)
These driving tips aren't just for Prius drivers, they apply to any brand of car.
Paul Sallmen 11:35PM (9/20/2008)
Your Clio is definitely efficient, but keep in mind the American EPA method of calculating fuel efficiency is much stricter than it used to be: including hard acceleration, inefficient faster highway speeds, air conditioner use and cold weather driving.
A Prius driven gingerly in the city will easily match your 3.9 L/100 km. You probably get that on the highway, but I doubt you get that in the city. The Prius is an unusual car in that regard: better city fuel economy than highway. The reason: The engine shuts off at idle, constant braking (in city driving) helps recharge the battery, the electric motor is used more (and often exclusively) at low speeds. This is why they make excellent taxicabs - pretty much only city driving all day long. Where I live near Vancouver, Canada, they are really popular as taxis. Some have 400 000 or 500 000 km on the original drivetrain and battery!