Akio Toyoda voiced his position at a final meeting with journalists within the framework of the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association. He noted that proponents of electric vehicles tend to forget about emissions generated during energy production, as well as the harm caused during the production and disposal of batteries.
Akio Toyoda stated that if all cars in Japan suddenly became electric, the country would face an electricity shortage in the summer. Even for a developed country like Japan, a full transition to electric cars would require significant modernization of infrastructure. According to preliminary estimates, the costs for these purposes would range from 135 to 358 billion dollars.
Moreover, even in developed countries like Japan, a significant share of electricity is generated by burning coal or natural gas, which is inevitably associated with large volumes of CO2 emissions. At the same time, Toyota has its own alternative — electric vehicles on hydrogen fuel cells, which produce only water vapor as exhaust.
Furthermore, potential economic losses from abandoning gasoline and diesel cars are not taken into account. Akio Toyoda is convinced that a too hasty decision could provoke a crisis in the industry and lead to the loss of thousands of jobs.
At the same time, this does not mean that Toyota is refusing to develop electric vehicles. Already in 2021, the company will present a new electric crossover.
