Hybrid handshake: All charged up at Toyota

Green energy acceleration is still not in. But pioneering companies like Toyota, Nissan and Mitsubishi have fought doggedly to push alternative fuel technologies around the world.

The automobile firmament is still grappling to find the right balance between utility, power, mileage and sheer beauty which the customer craves. ‘Green cars’ come and go with the panache of a magician conjuring up one trick after another, but auto companies are not running out of steam yet.

Toyota’s Camry says it just about right. Just about right? Well, the fact that the company’s superstar Camry’s hybrid version is looking to spawn variants, which will hopefully match the trail blazed by the first Camry in the petrol-loving Indian market over the past year. Still, it’s just about right. The sales challenges potholing the road ahead are as daunting as the customisation required for harsh Indian driving conditions.

Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM) Senior Vice-President & Director (Sales & Marketing) N Raja is lyrical when it comes to the feature push. Sales of the Camry have not been promising as in the western markets. But hopes ride high on the smooth ride and the raw power belted out by the lithium ion battery.

“There’s nothing like an electric car for a smooth ride. The vehicle starts and runs on the battery predominantly with the engine operating/starting only when required. This helps the vehicle maintain the lowest NVH in its segment — and, the quietest drive,” Raja tells Deccan Herald, at the Toyota corporate office on Bengaluru’s Vittal Mallya Road.

The engine and motor together give an impressive combined power output of 205 PS. In addition to powering the vehicle, the motor is activated as a generator to convert the moving vehicle’s kinetic energy into electricity. The generated electricity charges the battery. This process, which usually happens at the time of deceleration and braking and is called regenerative braking.

The vehicle gives an exceptional mileage of 19.16 kmpl, the best in its segment. A testimony to its hybrid technology, the car produces just 122.8 gm/km of CO2 emissions per km of driving, far lesser than approximately 175 gm/km from a conventional vehicles of similar engine size.

Buoyed by the response to its hybrid sedan Camry, Toyota is mulling bringing more such vehicles with alternative fuel technology to India. The company is celebrating the first anniversary of its Camry Hybrid in the country. Over the past year, the 541 units of the hybrid version have been sold.

So, has the hybrid journey for an auto technology ‘innovator’ like Toyota been smooth?

Globally, Toyota is a pioneer in introducing hybrid cars and rolled out the first mass produced hybrid vehicle, the Prius, in 1997. Till date, the company has sold more than 7 million hybrid vehicles.

As of today, Toyota Motor Corporation sells 27 hybrid passenger car models and one plug-in hybrid model in approximately 90 countries and regions around the world. The auto major boasts that its hybrid vehicles have resulted in approximately 49 million fewer tonnes of CO2 emissions.

Hybrid vehicles account for 14 per cent of TMC’s global vehicle sales. On Toyota’s home turf, Japan, around 44 per cent of cars the company sells is hybrid, while it is about 13 per cent sold in the United States and 20 per cent in Europe.

The India Road Show

The Indian market is also not new to hybrid cars, especially from the TKM stable. The company initially launched the Prius, back in 2010, and then embarked on a greater task of locally manufacturing the first hybrid car in the country. Hence, the locally-made Camry Hybrid debuted a year ago, with renewed plans to introduce Indian car lovers to alternative fuel technologies.

Customers in India, looking for cars in general, and high-end cars in particular, have always opted for conventional vehicles of European make. To break the trend down further, an average car consumer in India, though very particular about fuel efficiency, has advanced to accepting cheap and dependable diesel fuel, heralding a boom in sales of cars that run on diesel. Consequently, hybrids, much like electric cars, are yet to carve out a space in the psyche of the Indian car buyer.

“The hybrid market is getting popular in India; however, there are a few challenges to overcome to further propel this growth. Lack of awareness among people about hybrid technology is a problem,” Raja claims.

If one were to enumerate reasons for the market’s slow progression towards the acceptance of cars running on alternative fuels, predominantly hybrid ones, several misconceptions exist in the mind of an Indian car buyer that deter him from investing in a vehicle running on an alternative fuel source. Says Raja, “There are several issues that rage in the mind of a car owner/potential car buyer when it comes to hybrid technology.”

For a start, in recent times, consumers have come to understand and invest in electric cars, which are battery-driven and popular, owing to the range (distance travelled) they provide per charge, leading to huge savings on fuel. One of the major areas of confusion affecting consumer sentiment about hybrid cars in India is that ‘hybrid’ tends to fall under the high maintenance category and requires additional maintenance in comparison to conventional vehicles. This is a fallacy.

Another major misconception baffling consumers involves charging. In reality, no external charging is required for these vehicles, which charge themselves while on the drive. Unlike electric cars, a hybrid car can run a long distance much like its conventional peers. Hence, there is no limit on the distance it can travel and its speed and range is similar to a conventional vehicle. Also, its periodic maintenance is similar to that of a petrol car.

“Few impediments that exist for acceptability of such hybrid vehicles is awareness (in this case, electric power does not need charge stations, the battery stores and recoups energy through regenerative braking technology), infrastructure, right regulatory and fiscal environment,” reiterates Grant Thornton India Partner Sridhar Venkatachari, adding that customers should be educated about how some of these new technologies are addressing their key concerns such as need for charging stations, how non-polluting/less polluting (air and noise) it is, how performance-oriented these vehicles are, safety features and cost of maintenance. Hybrids provide the best of both gasoline and electric-driven passenger vehicles.

It is important to briefly understand what exactly is hybrid technology. Hybrid literally means ‘fusion’, integrating two distinct, yet related aspects. Cars that run on hybrid technology use a combination of two power sources, which are a powerful petrol engine and an electric motor. The Camry Hybrid, for instance, combines a newly developed hybrid exclusive 2.5L beltless petrol engine with an electric motor.

Toyota believes that mass market adoption of hybrid technology for cars will help in economies of scale and thus drive competitive pricing. “Moving towards adoption of alternative fuel is a trend that has been observed in the global market and is the obvious way forward for the developing markets as we prepare to overcome the impending energy crisis,” Raja affirms.

The government should encourage vehicles using alternative fuels by regulation and incentives. There are countries which levy additional tax for CO2-based passenger vehicles. Conversely, reduced road taxes, preference in parking space, exemption from tolls, lower excise duty on components and vehicles, reduced VAT, tax benefits on R&D, would shift the demand in favour of these cars. Improved infrastructure like charging stations and filling stations will add momentum.

The government announced the National Electric Mobility Mission Plan 2020 (NEMMP 2020), last year, which sets the target and provides the roadmap for achieving significant penetration of electric and hybrid vehicle technologies in the country by 2020. Proper implementation of schemes under the NEMMP 2020, which estimates 6-7 million unit sales over the next 5-year period, in right earnest, would lead to a significant market potential for hybrid and alternative fuel cars.

The future

Based on its belief that environment-friendly vehicles can truly make a difference if they are widely used, Toyota has endeavored to encourage the mass-market adoption of hybrid vehicles, globally. The company is of the belief that the only way to overcome carbon emission woes is by adopting “alternative motoring” and other futuristic concepts and technologies.

“We are constantly working on raising performance, reducing costs, and expanding product line-up, including non-hybrid environment-friendly vehicles,” Raja says.Toyota believes that the more widely used environmentally-friendly vehicles are, the more positive an impact they will have. “To popularise eco-cars, we want to continue promoting hybrid vehicles, plug-in hybrid vehicles, electric vehicles, and fuel cell vehicles that meet fuel diversification needs and allow customers to choose the best eco-car in terms of vehicle usage, performance, and price,” Raja said.