Automakers around the world are rushing to transition their lineups to electric vehicles (EVs), but Toyota’s President is not a fan of an EV-only approach.
Toyota President Akio Toyoda believes EVs are overhyped and that a wholesale transition to EV-only lineups will cause more problems than it will solve, according to The Wall Street Journal.
In particular, Toyoda called out the environmental impact of charging EVs. The executive believes Japan’s current energy grid would collapse under the weight of charging vehicles if the country’s entire fleet of cars was EV-only. He also took aim at the environmental impact of charging EVs since the energy source used to generate electricity still produces carbon.
“When politicians are out there saying, ‘Let’s get rid of all cars using gasoline,’ do they understand this?” Mr. Toyoda said at a news conference while serving in his capacity as Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association Chairman.
Toyota also expressed concern that such a transition would result in the loss of millions of jobs, saying “the current business model of the car industry is going to collapse” if the government is premature in its efforts to ban gasoline vehicles.
While Toyoda raises valid concerns, he is in the minority of auto execs, or at least in the minority of those that have publicly weighed in on the transition to EVs.
