Eco-Vehicle Assessment System

Ever since TMC's (Toyota Motor Corporation) in-house Research & Development facilities acquired ISO14001 certification in 1998, the company has been constantly monitoring its progress toward achieving environmental impact reduction targets. Eco-VAS, based on the concept of life cycle assessment (LCA), will serve as a valuable environment-management tool for those responsible for vehicle development.

Eco-VAS main points

• At the very start of planning, the person responsible for a particular vehicle sets environmental impact reduction targets for that vehicle.
• Assessment of environmental impact is carried out covering a wide range of items, including fuel efficiency, emissions and noise during vehicle use, the disposal recovery rate, the reduction of substances of environmental concern and CO₂ emissions throughout the entire life cycle of the vehicle from production to disposal.
• A new computer network allows the project leader or other responsible person to access an environmental database from a personal computer, check the status of target achievement, continually confirm results and obtain feedback during the entire development process, in order to assess vehicle recovery rates and the amount of usage of substances of environmental concern and to carry out LCA.

Through these processes, and under the direct management of the person in charge, necessary measures to reduce the environmental impact of each vehicle can be devised in the initial stages of development, enabling steady development progress with an eye toward achieving targets and raising a vehicle's overall environmental performance.

Eco-VAS operational flow

Persons in charge of vehicle development set environmental impact reduction targets for vehicles at the planning stage and continually check target-achievement status from the start of the development process through to the start of production.