Featured Akio Toyoda looking for half of sales from electric powered vehicles

oh, how the mighty have fallen. elon must be laughing through his batteries.

 

“China on line 2 sir.”

Bob Wilson

 

Fallen? Toyota is the biggest auto manufacture in the world. I assure you Musk is not laughing. If anything he is pay close attention to Toyota. They have the cash to burn and the capability to come to market with actual cars not just promises. Also Toyota will be on the heals of Tesla with their own electric trucks through their own truck company Hino.

 

First of all, 50% "electric" (counting hybrids as well as PHEVs, BEVs and FCVs) seems like a pretty modest goal given the 20+ year timeline.

I can easily imagine that Toyota is interested in selling more in China and China appears to be committed to electric vehicles, so this announcement isn't all that surprising.

Musk has repeatedly stated that his goal is to speed up the transition to electric vehicles, so if Toyota feels that they should accelerate their transition (either from the pressure of possible competition from Tesla or from the desire to sell more in a market committed to electric vehicles (China)), I'm pretty confident that he would say "Do it."

 

Well 2030 is not 20 years away.

I like this statement:
"Of these [5.5 milion], 4.5 million units would be gasoline-electric hybrid and plug-in hybrid vehicles and one million units would be all electric vehicles and hydrogen-powered fuel-cell vehicles, said the CEO."

I hope this means there will be a lot more PHEV options in the next years, I'm not fully sold to EVs just yet, but if Toyota keep delaying PHEV options then maybe it will be too late.

 

toyota is all talk, tesla is all 'do'. (perhaps not the best way to phrase it) musk has nothing to fear. akio's slow admission that electric is the future is helpful, and the japanese used to have to fall on their sword to save face, after admitting their mistakes.

toyota used to be a leader, now, they are sheep like gm.

 

Toyota seemed very reluctant to burn their cash in support of the PiP or even their FCEV baby. The Mirai has been out for years now, and Toyota is just getting into a partnership with other hydrogen car makers to build refueling stations in Japan now that it appears they won't have their hydrogen FCEV pilot project ready for the 2020 Olympics. Tesla starting building Supercharger stations before releasing the Model S. Hydrogen cars need infrastructure more than BEVs in order to be successful.

 

All vehicles that require a fuel that does not have the currently existing gas/diesel infrastructure are still limited use as compared....some more that others...but still limited. So pick your poison based on the limitations you can live with...and let others do the same.

 

You can charge a BEV at home. This won't work for long trips, but it will for a daily commuter. So a sizeable number of households in the US can replace one of their current cars with a BEV without the need for additional infrastructure.

A hydrogen car can only be refueled at a hydrogen station. The most diehard supporter of them could not get one if there is no stations nearby.

Tesla wanted to sell BEVs that could be used as long trip cars. They built, and are still building, a charging network to support their product.

Toyota, Honda, and others supporting hydrogen FCEV looked to governments to build the refueling infrastructure that their products absolutely needed for customers to even consider them. Perhaps if they had directly supported the building of hydrogen stations from the beginning, there might not have been the delays in stations opening.

 

Obviously to me Toyota has a Japan-focus and Japan has no energy resources as he stated, so they are committed to minimzing dependence on energy imports.

 

should have built out extensive solar, wind and hydro.

 

This is exactly what Elon wanted. He may well be grinning from ear to ear, but I doubt he is laughing.
I’m impressed that Toyota expects hybrids to grow that much. PHEV and BEVs sure, but I doubt hybrids.

 

A PHEV is a hybrid, with plugin capabilities. That us what the H stands for.

 

he's grinning if he believes it. more likely rolling his eyes though. by 2030, tesla will be so far ahead, toyota will be filing for bankruptcy.

 

Toyota chairman explains why they are falling behind with electric vehicles | Electrek
The above article explains how Toyota screwed the pooch and has gotten so far behind after leading with the Prius since before the turn of this century.

.

 

We'll see.
I believe something similar was said when talking about the supposedly more comfortable seats in the Gen 4 Prius. You could have (and did ) fooled me. My whole family agrees the seats are uncomfortable on a long trip. I believe my son's 2015 Prius v has better seats.