TOYOTA MOTOR CORPORATION (TMC) announces that
together with EDF Energy, the British subsidiary of the French energy
company EDF, it began testing TMC-produced plug-in hybrid vehicles on
public roads in the United Kingdom on September 10.
To officially kick off the tests, TMC and EDF held a joint press
conference in Hyde Park, London, on the same day, which was attended
by, among others, UK Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and
Regulatory Reform John Hutton, other members of the UK Parliament,
London municipal government officials and the Japanese Ambassador to
the United Kingdom Shin Ebihara. EDF Energy Chief Executive Vincent de
Rivaz, TMC Managing Officer Koei Saga, Toyota Motor Europe Senior Vice
President Graham Smith and others were also present.
At the press conference, TMC's Saga, who is in charge of hybrid system
development, said, "We are very excited to expand our PHV road testing
program to the UK in collaboration with EDF Energy. Today's
announcement represents a step-change towards acceptance of electricity
in combination with hybrid technology as a viable and sustainable
transport solution."
The UK road tests, like those conducted with EDF in France starting in
autumn 2007, involve setting up necessary infrastructure, evaluating
vehicle performance and ease-of-use, and surveying participating
vehicle users. Plans call for the test period to continue for more
than one year.
The UK is the fifth country in which TMC has conducted tests of plug-in
hybrid vehicles on public roads, following tests that began in 2007 in
Japan, the United States, France and Belgium.
While the current tests involve use of vehicles equipped with
nickel-metal hydride batteries, TMC is also accelerating development of
plug-in hybrid vehicles equipped with lithium-ion batteries. Sales of
the latter to fleet customers in Japan, the United States and Europe
are planned to begin—ahead of the original schedule—by the end of 2009.
TMC intends to continue meeting the challenge of achieving sustainable
mobility that aims to create harmony among cars, people and the
environment, and, to this end, positions its hybrid technology,
including its plug-in hybrid vehicles, at the core of its environmental
technologies.
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