Toyota, as the international mobility partner of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the International Paralympic Committee (IPC), has unveiled its mobility concept for Paris 2024. Toyota will provide sustainable mobility solutions to athletes, judges, volunteers, accredited media and spectators, prioritizing inclusivity, sustainability and mobility for everyone, values shared by Toyota, the IOC, the ICC and the Paris 2024 Organizing Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Toyota’s philosophy of offering increasingly better mobility for all considers that freedom of movement is fundamental for a diverse society. For this reason, Toyota is embarking on a process of transformation into a mobility company, and works to reduce obstacles to movement for everyone, regardless of their physical abilities. With several thousand athletes, workers and volunteers, Paris 2024 will be a demonstration of what we can achieve if we collaborate towards a better and more inclusive society.
“ When everyone has freedom of movement, we will be one step closer to the inclusive and sustainable society that Toyota is committed to creating. This is how we understand ‘Mobility for all’ at Toyota. It is, furthermore, a vision that we share with the IOC and the CPI. “We want to support athletes who dedicate their lives to sport and remove barriers so they can enjoy their freedom of movement.” Yoshihiro Nakata, President and CEO of Toyota Motor Europe (TME)
In collaboration with the IOC, the ICC and the Organizing Committee of the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games, Toyota is committed to turning Paris 2024 into the most innovative showcase of inclusive and sustainable mobility to date. The first step is to ensure that athletes and their families, as well as workers, volunteers and spectators can travel sustainably and safely.
Ensure “Mobility for all”
During the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games, Toyota will offer solutions to facilitate circulation for everyone. That’s why Toyota will provide personal and group mobility products designed to make it easier for everyone to get around.
In Paris 2024, Toyota will put 250 battery-powered personal electric vehicles on the road, both C + walk S seated and C + walk T standing. Both reach a maximum speed of 6 km/h and incorporate frontal obstacle detection systems to guarantee the safety of users and those around them. The seated version will be available for athletes, organizers and volunteers, while the standing model will be available to workers and volunteers to facilitate their movement between Paris 2024 venues.
For wheelchair users, Toyota will also offer electric wheelchair handles. Thus, there will be fifty electric shooters available for athletes in the Paris 2024 Olympic village. Another 150 will also be offered during the opening ceremony of the Paralympic Games, so that wheelchair athletes can attend this unique event.
To ensure fair and easy access to these personal micromobility solutions in the Paralympic Village, Toyota will offer them a shared mobility service managed through the KINTO Share mobile application. By sharing these products, Paralympic athletes and workers will get the most out of them, and operations will also be more efficient.
In addition to personal micromobility solutions, Toyota will deploy some 250 electric, zero-emission accessible people movers – APM, Accessible People Movers . Following the success of this vehicle at the Tokyo 2020 Games, the new APM has been redesigned and manufactured in Europe, guided by an inclusive spirit.
Toyota APMs are designed to assist all athletes, as well as organizers, volunteers and spectators with physical disabilities, including wheelchair users. They will provide the main shuttle service between the Olympic and Paralympic Village and the competition venues; In parallel, some will be used to transport small goods, and others will be designated as emergency vehicles. The APMs will operate primarily within the Paris 2024 safety zones, realizing Toyota’s vision of ‘Mobility for All’.
Toyota will also supply 150 battery electric vehicles accessible to users of Toyota Proace Verso wheelchairs, to enable the mobility of family members of Olympic and Paralympic athletes in wheelchairs. After Paris 2024, all vehicles will remain in the Paris region, where they will be used to provide specialized personal transport services to people in wheelchairs.
Globally, Toyota plans to provide 700 last-mile personal mobility products, such as C+walk S , C+walk T and electric wheelchair pulls, as well as 250 APM and 150 wheelchair-accessible Toyota Proace, among other systems of mobility. In this way, thanks to Toyota, athletes, volunteers and organizers will have access to the most inclusive and sustainable mobility fleet seen to date in the Olympic and Paralympic Games.
A more sustainable fleet
Sustainability is a very important part of Toyota’s commitment to building a better world, underlined by its Environmental Challenge 2050, when the company aims to achieve carbon neutrality globally; in Europe, it would be in 2040. That is why the fleet that Toyota will make available to the Olympic and Paralympic family in Paris 2024 is articulated around a multi-faceted strategy, which combines different electrified vehicles. Toyota will bring a fleet of 100% electrified passenger cars to Paris, in line with its commitment to reducing carbon emissions.
Globally, Toyota will provide more than 2,650 electrified passenger cars for use in Paris 2024, of which 150 will be wheelchair accessible. Around 60% of the fleet will be emission-free, including battery electric vehicles (BEVs ) such as the Toyota bZ4X, Proace and Proace Verso and Lexus RZ, and fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) . Vehicles –, like the Toyota Mirai.
During the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games, Toyota will supply 500 of its Mirai hydrogen-powered FCEVs so that the Olympic and Paralympic family, including athletes, organizers and volunteers, can travel without emissions. After the games, the 500 vehicles will be added to the existing fleet of Parisian hydrogen taxis, bringing the number of FCEV vehicles to 1,500.
In addition to zero-emission vehicles, Toyota will also supply 1,000 hybrid vehicles –HEV, Hybrid Electric Vehicles – and plug-in hybrids –PHEV, Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles –, such as the Toyota RAV4, both in PHEV and HEV versions, as well as the Toyota Corolla TS, the Yaris Cross and the Highlander, all of them with electric hybrid technology.
Furthermore, the official fleet will be complemented with more connected vehicles through KINTO, Toyota’s car-sharing service. Carpooling will give the Olympic and Paralympic family even more flexibility in getting around.
Globally, Toyota hopes to reduce vehicle carbon emissions at the Paris 2024 Games by 50% compared to previous games. In addition, around 60% of Toyota’s fleet will be produced in Europe, with 37% in France, which will contribute to reinforcing the vision of sustainable and local Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Towards creating a sustainable hydrogen mobility legacy
Toyota believes that hydrogen is a key pillar for creating a low-carbon and more sustainable society. That is why the company has placed it at the center of its mobility concept for the Olympic and Paralympic Games. During the Paris 2024 Games, Toyota will share its vision of creating a sustainable hydrogen ecosystem, through a demonstration of hydrogen solutions that will push the limits of hydrogen-based mobility even further.
In addition to the 500 Mirai, Toyota will also provide specific applications that go beyond the conventional automotive offering. Globally, Toyota and its partners plan to implement up to 10 different hydrogen mobility applications, mainly fuel cell, which represents a considerable increase compared to Tokyo 2020 and Beijing 2022. Applications will range from buses and trucks to boats and forklifts, all of which will demonstrate the potential of a hydrogen-based society. These applications are the result of Toyota’s integration of fuel cell technology with its partners, with the goal of solving mobility challenges.
Among the hydrogen applications that can be seen at Paris 2024, two fuel cell urban buses stand out, converted expressly for the occasion. The buses have been designed with accessibility and team spirit in mind, and will be able to transport an entire team in wheelchairs in one vehicle.
In terms of logistics, Toyota will demonstrate the advantages of hydrogen FCEV trucks, developed together with its partners. Furthermore, fuel cell forklifts, designed by Toyota Material Handling, will also demonstrate how hydrogen-based logistics operations can drive a hydrogen economy.
Toyota fuel cell technology will be present in boats, coaches, the Hilux prototype with hydrogen fuel cell and other vehicles used in the operations of the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Enabling sustainable hydrogen mobility requires a robust ecosystem that accommodates commercial hydrogen solutions. Toyota hopes that the demonstration of the viability of hydrogen mobility solutions at Paris 2024 will encourage further deployment of hydrogen infrastructure.
People come first with Toyota World Team Athletes
Toyota’s collaboration with the Olympic and Paralympic Games is a consequence of Toyota’s commitment to building a better world for the future. Sport and the way in which athletes face and overcome obstacles to achieve their goals are a source of inspiration, and show the way to a more inclusive and sustainable society.
That’s why Toyota is pleased to collaborate with some 200 athletes from 40 different countries on their path to qualify and compete in Paris 2024, all training under the umbrella of the Toyota World Team Athletes. These Olympians and Paralympians embody Toyota’s core value of continuous improvement and the desire to overcome challenges.
Toyota’s commitment to building a better society goes even further. The company’s purpose is to improve the way people move and ensure that everyone has the same opportunities to achieve their best version. In 2018, Toyota launched the international corporate campaign ‘ Start Your Impossible ‘, which reflects the Olympic and Paralympic spirit of encouragement, improvement and progress. The initiative is based on three pillars – an ever-better society, an ever-better Toyota and an ever-better Mobility for All – that encompass Toyota’s commitment to a constantly evolving world. The campaign continues with Paris 2024.
Furthermore, in the months leading up to the Olympic and Paralympic Games, Toyota Motor Europe, under the banner of ‘ Start your Impossible ‘, has launched a European activation campaign. More than 100,000 Toyota employees across Europe can set themselves challenges not related to work, in areas such as sports, volunteering or changing mentalities, to contribute to an increasingly better society and, with it, an increasingly better Toyota. . Thus, by being active in their lives and in their environments, they can become one of the 4,000 employees who have the opportunity to attend the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
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There are still many cities around the world that face challenges related to mobility, and that have to solve problems ranging from traffic congestion to environmental pollution, traffic accidents and access for people with disabilities. Starting with Tokyo 2020 and continuing with Beijing 2022, and now Paris 2024, Toyota hopes to help cities face these challenges around the world, and contribute to the achievement of a society based on sustainable mobility.
Toyota will continue to reveal more planned plans and contributions, including those related to new mobility products and systems, as we get closer to Paris 2024.
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“Thanks to the collaboration with Toyota as global mobility partner of the Paris 2024 Games, we can move towards more accessible and inclusive mobility. It will also be more responsible mobility, by focusing on our goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions at the Paris 2024 Games by 50% compared to previous editions. Toyota’s innovative approach to new technologies is essential to this. With less than a year left until the Games that will mark a new era, our collaboration with Toyota becomes more concrete day after day, and that is something that satisfies us.”
Tony Estanguet, President of Paris 2024.
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