Toyota Motor Corporation may be starting to embrace full electric vehicles—including one rumored to run on solid-state batteries as a joint-venture with Subaru, its president, Akio Toyoda warned about the “excessive hype” surrounding them.
In a year-end news conference as the chairman of the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association or JAMA, Toyoda is cautioning the Japanese government’s proposed plans to mandate a switch to full EVs as early as 2035.
He says that advocates may have failed to consider the carbon emitted by generating electricity. In a country such as Japan that gets most of its power from burning coal and natural gas, EVs don’t help the environment. Toyoda was quoted as saying, “The more EVs we build, the worse carbon dioxide gets.”
Furthermore, it may add stress on the electrical grid. If Japan doesn’t make improvements to its infrastructure, it may cause rotating blackouts when power demand is high, especially during summer time. Toyoda says that the government may stand to spend some 14 to 37 trillion yen or around USD 135 billion to 358 billion just to update its infrastructure to support a fleet consisting entirely of EVs.
He also reiterated that EVs may make cars out of reach for the average person.
“When politicians are out there saying, ‘Let’s get rid of all cars using gasoline,’ do they understand this?” Toyoda said.
On the flipside, the pro-EV camp says EVs can be charged at night when electricity demand is low and, over time, can grow in tandem with renewable sources of energy such as solar and wind.
Amid resistance from the local industry, the Japan Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry said that they haven’t made a decision on the future of gasoline cars yet.
Source: Car Guides PH
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