Photo: Toyota
Akio Toyoda went to Thailand himself to present two new pickup truck concepts. While talking to the audience, he tried to explain, once again, that he is not against EVs: he just thinks it is not a “one-size-fits-all.” He also seized the opportunity to poke Tesla and Elon Musk with their promises of robotaxis in 2016, 2017, 2018…
According to the Toyota CEO, “just like the fully autonomous cars that we were all supposed to be driving by now, I think BEVs are just going to take longer to become mainstream than the media would like us to believe.” Toyoda mentioned the press because he feels often criticized because he “won't declare that the automotive industry should commit 100% to BEV.” Notice that he made a distinction between electric cars and battery electric vehicles (BEVs): they are not synonyms.
Toyoda believes “we need to be realistic about when society will be able to fully adopt battery electric vehicles and when our infrastructure can support them at scale.” While the Toyota CEO may seem to be referring to how many charging stalls people will have available, his argument is more comprehensive. It has to do with raw materials available for the automotive industry to make only BEVs, the amount of energy a charging station will demand with increasingly bigger battery packs and higher charging speeds, and the lines that will form when several people need to charge at the same time – something we have already seen happening in Supercharging stations in the U.S.
The Japanese executive said that his company would pursue “creating a full portfolio of carbon-reducing choices” for its clients, “from hybrid electric vehicles like this Camry to plug-in electric vehicles like our Prius Prime to full, battery electric cars like our new bZ4X.” He also mentioned the Mirai to state that he believes “hydrogen is as promising a technology for our future as BEV(s).”
For Toyoda, it is not enough to make vehicles that do not directly emit carbon. He defends that “we need to take a holistic approach to carbon neutrality, from how we source materials, to how we manufacture cars, to what powertrains we put in them, and how we dispose of them.” This last part is particularly important: battery packs will always find a new destination when they are no longer suitable for a BEV: they can be recycled or used in second-life applications such as stationary energy storage. An EV without a battery pack is junkyard material, even if everything apart from the cells is working fine.
The Toyota CEO said “we must remember that carbon is the real enemy, not a particular powertrain.” That is not quite right. First of all, because life as we know it would not exist without carbon: it is the excess, coming from fossil fuels, that worsens the greenhouse effect that heats the Earth. Secondly, the enemy is excessive carbon in the atmosphere and other pollutants such as nitrogen oxides, particulates, ozone, and several other elements generated by combustion engines – regardless of what they burn. Toyoda insists burning hydrogen may be a way out, which is a desperate attempt to keep combustion engines alive.
Finally, Toyoda reinforced “that we can't reach carbon neutrality on our own. It must be a group effort and include other industries beyond automotive.” That was an elegant way to say that the automotive industry takes the blame for climate change simply for being the most visible fossil fuel consumer. Other economic sectors have a much higher responsibility for that. Nobody will save the world by driving BEVs, even if electric cars are the future of personal transportation.
Toyoda believes “we need to be realistic about when society will be able to fully adopt battery electric vehicles and when our infrastructure can support them at scale.” While the Toyota CEO may seem to be referring to how many charging stalls people will have available, his argument is more comprehensive. It has to do with raw materials available for the automotive industry to make only BEVs, the amount of energy a charging station will demand with increasingly bigger battery packs and higher charging speeds, and the lines that will form when several people need to charge at the same time – something we have already seen happening in Supercharging stations in the U.S.
The Japanese executive said that his company would pursue “creating a full portfolio of carbon-reducing choices” for its clients, “from hybrid electric vehicles like this Camry to plug-in electric vehicles like our Prius Prime to full, battery electric cars like our new bZ4X.” He also mentioned the Mirai to state that he believes “hydrogen is as promising a technology for our future as BEV(s).”
For Toyoda, it is not enough to make vehicles that do not directly emit carbon. He defends that “we need to take a holistic approach to carbon neutrality, from how we source materials, to how we manufacture cars, to what powertrains we put in them, and how we dispose of them.” This last part is particularly important: battery packs will always find a new destination when they are no longer suitable for a BEV: they can be recycled or used in second-life applications such as stationary energy storage. An EV without a battery pack is junkyard material, even if everything apart from the cells is working fine.
The Toyota CEO said “we must remember that carbon is the real enemy, not a particular powertrain.” That is not quite right. First of all, because life as we know it would not exist without carbon: it is the excess, coming from fossil fuels, that worsens the greenhouse effect that heats the Earth. Secondly, the enemy is excessive carbon in the atmosphere and other pollutants such as nitrogen oxides, particulates, ozone, and several other elements generated by combustion engines – regardless of what they burn. Toyoda insists burning hydrogen may be a way out, which is a desperate attempt to keep combustion engines alive.
Finally, Toyoda reinforced “that we can't reach carbon neutrality on our own. It must be a group effort and include other industries beyond automotive.” That was an elegant way to say that the automotive industry takes the blame for climate change simply for being the most visible fossil fuel consumer. Other economic sectors have a much higher responsibility for that. Nobody will save the world by driving BEVs, even if electric cars are the future of personal transportation.
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