Toyotaâs Chief Says Electric Vehicles Are Overhyped
Akio Toyoda says converting entirely to EVs could cost hundreds of billions of dollars and make cars unaffordable for average people Investors and big auto makers are pouring money into electric-vehicle startups in a search for the next Tesla, with the hopes of cashing in. One company is drawing more scrutiny than most. WSJ explains. Illustration: Jacob Reynolds/WSJ By Dec. 17, 2020 4:17 am ET
TOKYOâ Toyota Motor Corp.âs leader criticized what he described as excessive hype over electric vehicles, saying advocates failed to consider the carbon emitted by generating electricity and the costs of an EV transition.
Dec 10, 2020
By the middle of the next decade, cars that run on gasoline may be as common at dealerships as VCRs are at electronic shops today thanks to an ambitious policy under consideration by Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga’s administration to buttress its decarbonization efforts.
But will Japan really be able to phase out sales of new petrol-fueled vehicles by the mid 2030s, as has been reported in local media? And how would such a plan which would be the first time the country has put a time frame on ending sales of petrol vehicles affect its auto sector, the pillar of the nation’s industrial might?