Why does Mr. Toyota reject electric cars?

Always skeptical about Electric cars As the only solution for four-wheel mobility in the future, Akio Toyoda He never sent a word to them. Chairman of the Board of Directors of a company Toyota He has returned to criticizing battery electric cars in recent days and his words have sparked controversy in the automotive world. In fact, the grandson of the founder of the Japanese giant confirmed that the decline in demand is clear evidence that the electric car does not represent the only possible and envisioned path. Just think of the hybrid car – the demand for which is higher than ever – and hydrogen.

there Shrinking demand for electric cars In the United States, it stresses the need to carefully evaluate what should be done, taking into account that General Motors and Ford are about to decide whether to slow down the production of electric pickups or not. There are many ways to climb the mountain of carbon dioxide neutrality, Toyoda believes: “If the rules are written in an ideological way, it is the consumers, that is, ordinary people, who suffer the most.”

The decline in demand was recorded not only in the United States. According to reports from Handelsblattrecently also the German giant Volkswagen It admitted that it was suffering “with demand problems for its electric models in Germany. In the private channel, orders were well below the planned annual target for the entire battery range: ID.3, ID.4, ID.5 and ID. buzz. The Taliban of the green world have miscalculated with their reluctance to buy electric cars. On-demand mobility is not for everyone, it has environmental impacts and has significant costs, especially in an era of high inflation.

There is also another consideration to be made according to Toyoda, which relates to Sustainability of this technology. In fact, carbon dioxide emissions from electricity generation and at the same time the social costs of the energy transition are not taken into account. Regarding this point, Mr. Toyoda emphasized that Japan would face a power outage if the entire vehicle fleet was connected, a situation that would require the construction of multi-billion-dollar infrastructure. With all accounts in hand, between 150 and 450 billion euros. He accused him, saying: “When politicians say: Let’s get rid of all cars that use gasoline, do they understand what that means?” Realistic analysis, hard not to share.

Massimo Balsamo, October 30, 2023