ADAC Eco-driving Programme powered by Toyota

  

At the handover at Toyota Deutschland (from left to right): Andreas König, General Manager Driver Safety Training; Jürgen Stolze, General Manager Public Relations and Press; Ulrich Klaus Becker, ADAC Vice President Transport; Alain Uyttenhoven, Vice President Toyota Germany; Ludger Kersting, Manager ADAC Marketing and Sales Fleet Customers and Manager Qualification, André Schmidt, General Manager Marketing TDG and around 35 ADAC driving instructors.

Toyota Deutschland has taken a major step to promote eco-driving throughout Germany by donating 50, 1.8 litre Toyota Avensis cars to the national motoring organisation ADAC. The vehicles were handed to ADAC executives in a ceremony at Toyota Deutschland on 21 July. The vehicles will be stationed at 20 of ADAC’s safety driving centres throughout Germany and will be used by the organisation to train people in eco-driving techniques. With each training session taking around four hours, ADAC hopes to train at least 7,500 people a year.

Eco-driving training helps motorists to develop skills that reduce the fuel consumption of their vehicle, and therefore the emissions from that vehicle. Any driver in Germany can register for the eco-driving training via the ADAC hotline. However, ADAC also plans to actively target companies with large vehicle fleets. Under the agreement, Toyota dealers can also contact their local ADAC training centre to arrange an eco-driving session for their customers.

The training is concentrated on individual drivers. Initially the instructor analyses the driving style of the motorist over a set route. The driver’s performance is also monitored by specific instruments in the vehicle. Based on the results from the instruments and their own observations, the instructor proposes techniques that the driver can adopt to improve their eco-driving performance. After another circuit of the same route the driver is presented with the actual fuel saving compared to their normal driving style.

The cooperation between Toyota Deutschland and ADAC is initially for a period of two years. However, both organisations have expressed a willingness to extend the programme for another two years depending on the results of this first phase.