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Komiyama If we don’t get involved, the environment will do an about-face in the
wrong direction. I have done an investigation and analysis of automobile catalogues
using data from around 1995. What I found was that for automobiles of the same
weight, the average fuel economy values for Japanese cars were about 15% better
than those from the US and European manufacturers. However, if we look at data
from 2015, we now see that there is practically no difference when it comes to standard gasoline- and diesel-powered vehicles.
Uchiyamada I talked about it earlier, but one of the biggest drivers for hybrid
vehicles was that the world’s manufacturers got wrapped up in a competition over
fuel economy. Due to this, governments also decided there were still more regulations they could set and those regulations got tighter. It’s tough for us, too, but given
that these regulations apply to all manufacturers your only choice is to do what you
can to come out on top under those conditions.
Komiyama Right. If everyone really joins in, and in particular if China and the
United States join in, then the tighter the regulations the more Japan has an edge.
Uchiyamada There certainly are some who say it’s better to make them as strict as
possible, but when you do so the burdens on the customer rise dramatically. You
need time in order to not push the cost up. The best time for developing and introducing the new engines and platforms that make the biggest improvements to fuel
economy is when you do a model change. Accordingly, even people say let’s
improve it by 20% starting next year you can’t do it out of the blue. Mid-to-long- term
targets like those of the Paris Agreement talked about at COP 21 are important.
Komiyama Are various efforts already underway with 2050 in mind?
Uchiyamada Things have already started. I can’t offer you any specifics as of yet,
but let’s take furnaces as an example. Currently, we fuel them with natural gas, but
we’re wondering about whether or not we can use hydrogen, which doesn’t produce
CO 2 when burned. Nobody thought about this at Toyota before we came up with the
challenges. It’s that sort of a new idea. We haven’t built a plant in the past 3 years,
but in the future, we will begin construction for the next stage of development.
Because we must test technologies that have possibilities, we are studying a variety
of things like whether it will now be possible to try taking those ideas on board. The
hurdles we have to traverse are high when it comes to something like making a zero
CO 2 car by 2050 since that will be done not just at one plant but at plants around the
world.
Interview
Komiyama If we don’t get involved, the environment will do an about-face in the
wrong direction. I have done an investigation and analysis of automobile catalogues
using data from around 1995. What I found was that for automobiles of the same
weight, the average fuel economy values for Japanese cars were about 15% better
than those from the US and European manufacturers. However, if we look at data
from 2015, we now see that there is practically no difference when it comes to standard gasoline- and diesel-powered vehicles.
Uchiyamada I talked about it earlier, but one of the biggest drivers for hybrid
vehicles was that the world’s manufacturers got wrapped up in a competition over
fuel economy. Due to this, governments also decided there were still more regulations they could set and those regulations got tighter. It’s tough for us, too, but given
that these regulations apply to all manufacturers your only choice is to do what you
can to come out on top under those conditions.
Komiyama Right. If everyone really joins in, and in particular if China and the
United States join in, then the tighter the regulations the more Japan has an edge.
Uchiyamada There certainly are some who say it’s better to make them as strict as
possible, but when you do so the burdens on the customer rise dramatically. You
need time in order to not push the cost up. The best time for developing and introducing the new engines and platforms that make the biggest improvements to fuel
economy is when you do a model change. Accordingly, even people say let’s
improve it by 20% starting next year you can’t do it out of the blue. Mid-to-long- term
targets like those of the Paris Agreement talked about at COP 21 are important.
Komiyama Are various efforts already underway with 2050 in mind?
Uchiyamada Things have already started. I can’t offer you any specifics as of yet,
but let’s take furnaces as an example. Currently, we fuel them with natural gas, but
we’re wondering about whether or not we can use hydrogen, which doesn’t produce
CO 2 when burned. Nobody thought about this at Toyota before we came up with the
challenges. It’s that sort of a new idea. We haven’t built a plant in the past 3 years,
but in the future, we will begin construction for the next stage of development.
Because we must test technologies that have possibilities, we are studying a variety
of things like whether it will now be possible to try taking those ideas on board. The
hurdles we have to traverse are high when it comes to something like making a zero
CO 2 car by 2050 since that will be done not just at one plant but at plants around the
world.
Interview