Japanese automobile manufacturer Toyota and electronics manufacturer Panasonic will establish a joint investment company for the “Connected” business that connects vehicles and houses on the Internet. The two companies decided to establish a joint investment company as of January 7 next year and transfer each company’s housing division to the company’s affiliates.
The name of the new company is Prime Life Technology, and it plans to launch a “next-generation village creation” project that connects vehicles and houses on the Internet. As the Internet of Things (IoT) market that connects various products such as automobiles, home appliances, and mobile devices to the Internet is expanding recently, it is interpreted as a strategy to invest intensively through IoT-specialized companies. As demand for housing is decreasing due to Japan’s population decline, the two companies also aim to join hands to increase their competitiveness.
Toyota plans to transfer “Misa Home,” Toyota’s subsidiary, the No. 1 Japanese wooden house brand, to a joint venture company, and Panasonic plans to transfer three subsidiaries, including Panasonic Homes. Currently, the two companies plan to hold the same 50-50 stake, and Mitsui Corporation is also considering joining the company.
Toyota and Panasonic have also decided to expand their partnership with existing battery businesses equipped with electric vehicles (EVs) for the “next-generation village creation” project.
Toyota President Akio Toyoda said, “In the future, all the goods and services that support people’s lives will be connected to information,” adding, “I want to challenge to provide a new lifestyle.” “We will create an evolving village for our customers’ ideal lives,” Panasonic President Kazuhiro Tsuga said. “We will create new values throughout the city, which we haven’t seen anywhere else.”In the smart city model, the next most important factor after mobility, which means transportation and transportation, is energy. This is because one of the indicators of the completeness of smart cities is sustainability through the production and distribution of eco-friendly energy, and the circulation of waste. It is in a similar vein to the Korean government’s designation of Busan Eco Delta City as the national smart city target two years ago. Busan Eco Delta City will use a large number of new and renewable energy technologies under the concept of a “water circulation” city. Busan Smart City has only plans but has not yet started a proper plan.
However, neighboring Japan is already introducing “pilot” projects led by companies. Toyota City, Aichi Prefecture, is a typical example of getting off at Nagoya Chubu Airport and riding the subway for about 40 minutes. This is where Toyota Motor Corporation, the pride of Japan, was born in the 1930s. However, from a few years ago, it became more famous as an ‘eco-friendly smart city’.
In 2010, Toyota Motor Corporation joined hands with Toyota City to apply for the government’s Smart City to realize a low-carbon society. At that time, the Japanese government proposed not just a project to give state funds to local governments, but a qualification condition for companies, local governments, and research institutes to form a consortium of public, government, and academia together. In Japan, where real estate development is common among large companies, the smart city project also judged that practical changes could occur only when companies take the lead in development.
If you get off at Toyota Station and go about 15 minutes, you will arrive at “Toyota Ecoful Town,” which has a reduced future image of Toyota City. It opened in 2012 and is located in the Motoshiro-cho area, the center of Toyota City. From eco-friendly smart houses to hydrogen fuel cell charging stations, Toyota Motor Corporation and its construction subsidiary Toyota Home boast technologies.
The core of the smart house created by Toyota Home is “HEMS,” a system that produces solar energy from the roof and integrates and manages household chores to automobile fuel needed for commuting. The Toyota City Smart City Project, including Eco-pool Town, was thoroughly led by private companies, not the government or local governments. More than 20 companies representing Japan, including Toyota Motor Corp., the world’s second-largest auto parts maker Denso, Japan’s largest real estate company Daiwa House Group, and Japan’s No. 1 housing facility company LIXIL Group, participated in the project.
Denso applied its own solar power generation and electrical control system, and Rickshill applied aluminum materials that are advantageous for ventilation and insulation to smart houses to raise the technology to the level that can be commercialized. Daiwa House is currently building a smart town consisting of a smart house in Kakimoto-cho, Toyota. There is no interference and regulation in the role of the Japanese government and Toyota City. I only play the role of a sponsor. The government has established infrastructure by establishing hydrogen charging stations throughout Toyota City.
Toyota City provides subsidies when citizens purchase eco-friendly products (such as hydrogen cars and rechargeable batteries) made by companies.
If you buy a smart house or convert an existing house into a smart house, property tax will be cut in half. The hydrogen fuel cell bus made by Toyota Motor Corporation also completed verification of the vehicle, which is still in the test stage, with only Toyota City authorized to operate, and will be officially operated at the Tokyo Olympics next year.
SAM KIM
ASIA JOURNAL
