Future Pathways for Green Vehicle Technology

Academics, researchers, politicians and other interested stakeholders have been debating the mass introduction of alternatively fuelled (AFV) and low emission vehicles (LEV) since the 1970s. Interest in alternative technologies first came about as a result of both the two oil shocks around this time (making the internal combustion engine (ICE) appear less attractive as a vehicle powertrain) and increased awareness of the environmental consequences of the current automobile culture. It can be easy to conclude that all of this work has come to naught. A quick look out the window confirms that ICE powered vehicles are still by far the dominant way we go about our personal mobility. Perhaps this is due to the relative calm in the international oil markets over the 80s, 90s and early 2000s and the ICE has come a long way to decreasing its local pollution emissions (such as particulate matter, nitrous and sulphur oxides etc.) but carbon emissions have seen a much more muted improvement.

The focus has shifted in recent years from a local pollution to an international pollution prospective. In the developed world we have mostly addressed the challenge of local pollution (by outsourcing our dirty industry to less developed countries). The next hurdle is to address the problems of anthropogenic climate change of which transport contributes over a quarter in the developed world. One thing is clear (in my view), in the medium and long term we will have to move away from a system dependent on oil to power individual ICE if we have any hope of meeting the goals we have recently set ourselves (see the UK Climate Change Bill).

The Toyota Crisis and its Ramifications for LEVs

Over the last few weeks a story has broken that has the potential to pull down the biggest automotive firm in the World. Toyota has recently admitted a technical fault in some of its vehicles that interferes with the operation of the accelerator. Some Toyota drivers have stated their vehicles accelerator pedal becoming stuck down causing the vehicle to speed out of control. A number of car accidents in the US have been attributed to this default.

The company’s response to the allegations of technical malfunctions has been somewhat sporadic and less than confident in nature. A solid position on this issue was not initially forthcoming leading some speculators to question Toyota’s crisis management abilities. Toyota has now ordered an international recall of all affected vehicles and will be working with the DVLA in the UK in order to get in touch with all drivers in the UK operating a potentially faulty vehicle. I imagine that any Toyota driver is well aware of the situation and that they will have attempted to get in touch with Toyota long before the corporate engine finally engaged in an attempt to resolve the situation.