Toyota’s top executives, including billionaire CEO Akio Toyoda, have been on the record calling the trend toward electric vehicles “overhyped” in part because of emissions associated with power plants — which is a favorite talking point used by the oil and gas industry.
According to The New York Times, a top Toyota executive has met with congressional leaders behind closed doors in recent weeks to advocate against the Biden administration’s plans to spend billions of dollars to incentivise the shift to EVs.
Last year, a group of car companies made a deal on tailpipe emissions with California, which had been seeking to set tougher rules than the US as a whole. Under President Donald Trump, the Environmental Protection Agency had sought to strip California of its power to set its own emissions standards. But under Biden, that rule was reversed, allowing California and other states to impose tougher standards.
Toyota, which sided with the Trump administration in its battle with California, was not part of the original compromise. And the company has argued against EV-friendly policies in India and in its native country, Japan, as well.
Toyota’s behind-the-scene efforts to slow the momentum behind EV-friendly policies is surprising, given its status as an early adopter of battery-powered transportation.
With the release of the Toyota Prius in 1997, the company helped pave the way for Tesla and others by proving that vehicles with alternative powertrains could be immensely popular. And more recently, the automaker has revealed plans to release 70 new models by 2025, including battery-electric, hydrogen fuel cell, and gas-electric hybrids.
But that doesn’t hide the fact that Toyota has fallen far behind its competitors, appearing content to rest on its laurels while the rest of the industry has lapped it several times. Companies like Nissan, General Motors, and Volkswagen have been selling pure battery-electric vehicles for years, while also revealing their plans to phase out gas cars completely. And Toyota’s failure to embrace EVs is not a new concept; The New York Times noted as much in this article from 2009.
Submitted July 27, 2021 at 04:54AM by yes_i_abide https://ift.tt/3l1CfJe
