2010 Best New Green Technology

JIM KENZIE FOR THE TORONTO STAR

2010 Ford Fusion Hybrid.

Jim Kenzie

SPECIAL TO THE STAR

In the Best Green Technology category at AJAC's TestFest, here is how I would order the innovations:

FORD FUSION HYBRID

AND SMART GAUGE

(Five points)

The Fusion Hybrid is now the most economical mid-size sedan you can buy, and most of the technology was developed in North America – it is not a Toyota Prius system sold under licence as some have claimed.

The Fusion system is based on that used in the Escape Hybrid. The upgrades themselves – notably smaller, more powerful nickel-hydride batteries, more efficient electronic controllers and improved regenerative braking feel – probably wouldn't have earned many points from me.

What is cool is the reconfigurable instrument panel, or Smart Gauge, as Ford calls it.

It interviewed owners of Escape and other hybrid models, and asked what they liked and didn't like about their current systems. A recurring theme was the desire to be "coached" to drive more efficiently, but they didn't necessarily want the system to be too "engineery" or "geeky."

The solution, tested using Ford's big driving simulator in Dearborn, Mich., was a series of instrument panels that display increasing levels of information about what's going on, including a panel showing a graphic of leaves and vines that "grow and multiply" as you drive more economically.

Try as you might to ignore this brazen attempt to engage you in a silly video game, you start to cheer for yourself whenever another leaf pops up.

Who's competitive?

TOYOTA'S PLANT-BASED PLASTICS

(Four points)

It's a bit of a stretch, but even petroleum is plant-based, if you go back a couple of million years. I mean, petroleum comes from decomposed dinosaurs, and dinosaurs only ate plants, didn't they?

So the idea of making plastics based on oils derived from the original source – plants – shouldn't sound far-fetched at all.

Both the new Prius and Lexus HS 250h have several plastic components – foam material, upholstery, board material, injection-moulded material – that contain textiles with a percentage of plant-based fibres. Overall, these reduce CO2 emissions by about 20 per cent. Recycling is also easier.

The production processes are somewhat more complicated and expensive, and things like high-quality surface finish cannot yet be achieved. But it's early times for this technology, and Toyota expects close to 20 per cent of interior plastic parts to be made of so-called eco-plastic by 2015.

TOYOTA SOLAR POWERED A/C

(Three points)

A car parked under a hot sun all day obviously absorbs a lot of energy, which can heat the interior to as much as 80C.

It seems a logical step to harness that energy via solar cells to drive the car's ventilation system to expel that hot air and make the car more comfortable when the occupants arrive after a hard day in the salt mines.

So logical that Mazda did this in the 1992 929 Serenia.

Toyota's Prius takes it a step further by also enabling remote-control air conditioning.

A button on the key fob activates the battery-powered air conditioning compressor, so in-car cooling begins before you even open the door.

And because the A/C runs on the traction battery, not on an idling engine, this is vastly superior to the dreaded remote start.

At the moment Prius does not have a remote heater for cold Canadian winters, but conceptually it shouldn't be a huge stretch.

MERCEDES-BENZ S400 HYBRID

(Two points)

This car essentially follows the Honda Integrated Motor Assist concept of an electric motor replacing the flywheel and allowing electric energy to be added to the crankshaft in addition to that provided by the fuel engine.

This allows a small V6 engine to do the normal day-to-day work, with the battery-powered electric motor filling in the gaps in the torque curve.

What makes this application unique is that it is the first automotive volume production application of lithium-ion batteries. The energy density of these is superior to other forms of traction battery, which leaves this S-class with as much passenger and cargo capacity as any other.

Toyota/Lexus Atkinson Cycle

(One point)

This submission consisted of a series of small steps taken during the engineering development of these vehicles. The result: better performance, as measured in faster acceleration, superior fuel economy and lower emissions.

The closest to something dramatic though is the fact this new engine is "beltless," as the usual belt-driven suspects (a/c compressor, power steering pump, water pump) are all run by electric motors, resulting in less energy wasted by the fuel-burning engine. Other carmakers have one or more of these electricity-run accessories, but here the belt has been entirely eliminated.

This engine also has a greater exhaust gas recirculation, and an exhaust heat recovery system – in effect a small heat exchanger surrounding the muffler, so all that heat doesn't just escape out the tailpipe. This speeds engine warm-up to further reduce emissions.

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