Toyota Writing History with "Crayon" EV Commuter System

Tokyo―TOYOTA MOTOR CORPORATION (TMC) is putting the final touches on the late-May start of its "Crayon" (^*1) EV Commuter System, a 21st century-minded, environment-friendly mobility system that combines the small EV commuter "e-com", and the latest IT technologies. The vicinity of the company's head office in Toyota City, Aichi Prefecture, is to serve as the canvas for the system, which features GPS (^*2) and mobile phone-enhanced location management.

Crayon―intended for common use by many people―is intranet operated and comprises a variety of systems, including the following.

• Reservation & Recharging Management System―based on office PCs and terminals located in specialized e-com depots
• IC Card System―in which members carry a special card that can be used as a car key or for inputting reservations or other information
• Location Management System―using MONET (^*3), through which the Crayon Center (a movement management center) can track the location of each vehicle
• Real-time Information Provision System―based on VICS (^*4) and MONET
• Charge Billing System―customers are billed for charges based on accumulated time of use.

Crayon is highly adaptable and can be expanded to include a variety of other applications as well.

*1. Crayon

Named for an image of "drawing a picture of mobility that has a dream" for the 21st century.

*2. GPS

global positioning system

*3. MONET

Mobile Network (Toyota Information and Communications Network)

*4. VICS

Vehicle Information and Communication System

The Crayon EV Commuter System is an EV shared-use transportation system that, with quiet operation and no engine emissions, places a minimal burden on the environment. Its introduction is being considered in a number of locations, for business use in metropolitan areas and for tourist use in resort regions. It can also be used as a short-distance mode of transportation for shopping or trips to and from the nearest train station in residential or housing development communities.

TMC will use Crayon's experimental operation, while widely disclosing its results, to improve e-com and the Crayon system. TMC will consider opinions from a broad range of sources concerning applications and other issues, and will expand the range of uses for the system in the future.