Interview with Gerald Killmann, Vice President R&D at Toyota Motor Europe, given ahead of his lecture “Automotive Fuel Cell Technology – Toyota MIRAI,” organized by the Austrian Society of Automotive Engineers (ÖVK). ‹F.›: The all-new Prius, unveiled in early 2016, is the fourth generation of the cult hybrid, of which is said that it would mark the beginning of a new era in fuel consumption, emissions and efficiency. 4 F O C U S Can you give us an idea of how Toyota managed to do this? ‹Gerald Killmann (G.K.)›: On the one hand, the new generation of the Toyota Prius comes with a number of new technologies, allowing us to achieve some groundbreaking levels in many areas of hybrid technology. On the other, the latest Prius is the first car to use a new platform. We are aware that the customers are always also interested in driving dynamics, and central to dynamics, in other words vehicle handling, is the low center of gravity. When we designed the platform, which we named TNGA (Toyota New Global Architecture), we paid special attention to this aspect, to ensuring that the vehicle‘s center of gravity is as low as possible. The innovation has led to driving dynamics like in no other Toyota Prius. As for the drive system, we made sure that every single component was further improved. One particular characteristic value received a particular boost: The internal combustion engine now features a thermal efficiency greater than 40 percent, a value previously unattained by any gasoline engine. And since all of Toyota‘ s hybrid systems – including that of the new Prius – always run at the ideal operating point for a requested performance, this particular thermal efficiency is often virtually achieved even at other operating points. These are aspects that are reflected in the daily consumption rates. We focused especially on the ability to stabilize and lower fuel economy at highway speeds too, because that‘s an area where hybrid structures so far have been less able to show their strengths. By having optimized the electrical losses at higher speed and performance ranges, it‘s safe to say that we have taken this aspect of the hybrid system extremely seriously. cover story ›› WE BELIEVE THAT LONG-TERM CO2 EMISSION REDUCTION IS TOP PRIORITY. ‹‹
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