Recently, at the G7 summit after Tokyo Station, Akio Toyoda, chairman of Toyota Motor Corporation and president of the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association, once again launched a fierce attack on electric vehicles. He insisted that trams were a "low-grade product" and said he would firmly boycott this energy type.
Akio Toyoda
Akio Toyoda believes that electric vehicles are not an emerging technology. Toyota had already launched electric vehicles as early as the 1990s. He emphasized that trams do not represent new energy because most of the electricity comes from fossil energy sources such as coal and natural gas. If all fuel vehicles in the world were replaced by electric vehicles, the electricity required would be twice as much as now!
Akio Toyoda
In addition, Toyoda Akio also mentioned that the large number of trams will put great pressure on the power grid and lead to more carbon emissions. Trams consume a large amount of resources and energy during the production process. Lithium is required to manufacture batteries. However, from the development of lithium mines to the recycling of old batteries, there is the possibility of damaging the environment. Therefore, he believes that trams are not environmentally friendly. It is worth noting that this is not the first time Akio Toyoda has raised objections to electric vehicles. He has repeatedly spoken out against current trends in public, and the motivations behind them are thought-provoking.
Japanese hydrogen energy vehicles
From a Japanese perspective, Toyoda's remarks are not entirely unreasonable. Japan is a densely populated country. If electric vehicles are to be used on a large scale, the first thing that needs to be solved is the charging problem. According to data released by Tokyo infrastructure provider Enechange, there are currently only 30,000 charging piles installed in Japan, which means that on average only one charging pile is shared by every 4,000 car owners. In addition, charging costs for Japanese car owners are relatively high. Although the vast majority of people choose to buy electric cars mainly because charging is more economical than refueling, industrial electricity prices in Japan are twice as high as in China and South Korea.
Hydrogen refueling station
Economist Tetsu Watanabe said in an interview that high energy prices, especially electricity prices, will become Japan's biggest worry in 2024 and affect the country's international competitiveness. In addition to the scarcity of charging piles and high electricity prices, Japanese tram owners must go offline to manually apply for recharge cards when charging before they can use public charging piles. In China, most charging piles are equipped with QR codes, and car owners only need to scan the QR code and download the relevant application to complete the operation. Part of the reason Japan's electric vehicle industry has failed to develop significantly is because of limited consumer choice.
Hydrogen energy vehicles
Statistics show that 95% of new cars sold nationwide in Japan in 2022 will be Japanese brands, and Japanese brands almost monopolize the Japanese car market.
Hydrogen energy vehicles
Although the penetration rate of new energy vehicles in the Japanese market has reached 2.9%, this figure is still far lower than that in China (more than 30%). The three best-selling Japanese electric cars are Nissan's Leaf, Sakura and Tesla's Model 3. It is worth noting that both models are K-Cars (light automatic vehicles), which are slightly smaller than ordinary cars in terms of size and displacement. However, K-Car has an inherent flaw, that is, insufficient battery life. The Nissan Leaf has a range of only 346km in the US EPA test environment, so it has not been launched in China. Looking back, why does Toyoda continue to criticize electric vehicles?
Hydrogen energy vehicles
Outsiders believe that this may be related to Toyota's development strategy in the field of electric vehicles in recent years. Unlike other automakers that choose electrification technology as their future development direction, Toyota began supporting hydrogen energy technology many years ago and launched the Mirai, the world's first mass-produced hydrogen energy vehicle, in 2014.
Toyota Automotive
However, Mirai's global sales in the first half of this year were only 2,328 units. Therefore, Toyoda's constant smearing of electric vehicles is related to his desire to redeem Toyota Motor's misguided decisions.
I wonder who would be stupid enough to buy into the fact that Mr. Toyota is constantly attacking electric vehicles and holding on to a lot of hydrogen energy vehicle patents? !
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