TOKYO - The Japanese government is planning to spread the so-called "idling stop" campaign from buses and taxis and other commercial vehicles to the general car-owning population in an effort to save fuel and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Studies have found that switching off the engine when the vehicle is stopped for more than a very short time - as opposed to leaving it idling - results in considerable fuel-saving and emission reduction.

Vehicles equipped with automatic "idling stop" devices are on the increase, and the government extends subsidies to commercial firms which use such vehicles.

But there are no such measures for privately owned cars, which greatly outnumber vehicles for business use.

The Energy Conservation Center of Japan, affiliated with the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, carried out a three-week test in the summer of 2002 using two cars of the same make and model - one with an automatic idling cut-off and the other without it.

The test run covered a distance of about 3,700 kilometers from Cape Soya in Hokkaido to Cape Sata in Kagoshima Prefecture.

The results of the test testified to large reductions in the consumption of fuel and emissions of carbon dioxide, center officials said.

On open roads between cities there was not much difference between the two vehicles in fuel-saving because stops were few, but even so, the vehicle with the idling-prevention device used 3.4% less gasoline that the other car.

But in cities, the saving was 13.4%.

Between cities, the time spent at a halt by the vehicles was 7.9% of the running hours, compared with 25.9% in cities, the test found.

A center official said that since the saving on fuel was large, "Operators of buses running on regular routes in cities, those of home-delivery trucks, and taxi companies have begun to actively introduce the practice."

However, impatient drivers do not like to turn off their engines at traffic light stops because they want to get off to a fast start when the lights change.

With improved efficiency in starters and batteries, turning off the engine for a short time poses almost no problem, but even so many drivers find it a heavy psychological burden to deliberately turn off the engine by using the key.

Toyota Motor Corp. incorporated an "idling stop system" in the 1300-cc Vitz car it marketed in 2003. If the driver brakes with the gearshift in "drive," the engine automatically stops, and when the driver removes his foot from the brake pedal, the engine will restart. The car has a high-power battery so that the air conditioning will keep running with the engine in
"idling stop" mode.

Toyota has also equipped other cars with the system.

Similar systems have been employed in vehicles of other automakers, including the Insight and the Civic Hybrid of Honda Motor Co, and the Mira-V of Daihatsu Motor Co.

Idling cut-off devices have also been installed in trucks and buses produced by Hino Motors Ltd, Isuzu Motors Ltd and Nissan Diesel Motor Co.

An official at the EcoMo Foundation, a nonprofit group funded by automakers, said, "More than half of the vehicles in Japan are privately owned cars. We would like car owners to practice 'idling stop', but it is difficult for us to tackle them because of their number."
(Kyodo News)

April 7, 2005

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Source: http://www.japantoday.com/e/?content=feature&id=875