- Toyota eCom
The Toyota eCom was an
electric vehicle (EV) thatToyota produced in 1998. The premise of the eCom was not to be just a small car, but a car available to everybody that had a special electronic card instead of a key, promotingcarpooling . It was seen in various car shows and demonstrations in three color schemes, one being white with blue fringes, another gold with blue fringes and the third very similar to the first with green-blue fringes.Fifty eComs were made and stations were set up for rental in
Toyota City . Thirty are still in use.Background
Toyota Motor Sales USA joined with theUniversity of California, Irvine and other partners to demonstrate the shared use of electric cars utilizing e-com, Toyota's 2-passenger personal transport EV. Participants include companies located in University Research Park, a commercial park next to the university. Along with sharing cars, the "Living Power Park Laboratory" will investigate breakthrough concepts in urban design, electricity generated by stationary fuel cells, and use of a micro power grid to distribute electricity. A fleet of e-coms were used for short-distance shared-usage driving and commuting [http://www.toyota.com/about/environment/news/update4.html] .The eCom and cars like it were pulled from Toyota's widespread lineup not long after for financial reasons. It could also be thought of as the precursor to the
hybrid vehicle Prius and followed by theToyota Crayon .See also
*
ZEV•NET PDF| [http://www.its.berkeley.edu/itsreview/ITSReviewonline/july2002/Review.1.IrvineZEV.pdf] |254 KiBNotes
External links
* [http://www.sae.org/automag/globalview_06-00/01.htm Automotive Engineering International Online's page including additional info on the eCom]
* [http://www.toyota.co.jp/Museum/data_e/a03_12_1.html Toyota: e-com] .
* [http://www.toyotatr.com/eng/gvision2010.asp Global Vision 2010] .
* [http://www.electrifyingtimes.com/cadi_ecom.html Cadillac CTS & Toyota e-com: Worlds Apart] .
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.