Why Toyota is fighting critics it’s been too slow to invest in electric vehicles

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The world’s largest automaker, Toyota, is battling criticism that it is behind rivals on electric vehicles, and is even working to try to block the transition to zero-emission electric fleets.

But the automaker says it believes in an all-electric future. He simply argues that the future will not reach all of Toyota’s markets at the same time.

Toyota was once considered a pioneer of green vehicles. It introduced the Prius, the mainstream hybrid vehicle to the world in 1997. The Prius combined a gasoline engine with an electric motor and a small battery. This allowed drivers to significantly increase their fuel economy compared to traditional internal combustion engine cars.

The new technology proved to be a selling sensation: Toyota offered hybrid versions of much of the rest of its lineup. The automaker has sold a total of 20 million hybrid cars, trucks and SUVs worldwide, and 5.4 million in the United States alone.

But in the meantime, other automakers, spurred by ever-tighter government regulations and the success of newcomers like Tesla, have started investing in all-electric vehicles.

For a long time, Toyota executives argued that battery-electric vehicles presented fundamental engineering challenges, took a long time to charge, required heavy and expensive batteries, and still had limited range.

Those criticisms are less valid now given recent improvements in battery technology, according to auto industry analysts. More importantly, companies have found a strong business case for electric vehicles. Tesla is now the number one luxury brand in the United States.

Toyota’s new $35 billion investment, announced in December 2021, includes a plan to introduce 30 electric models by 2030. That’s just under a quarter of the more than 130 models it currently manufactures .

At the same time, however, Toyota said it would invest an equal amount in hybrid vehicles and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles.

Gartner, an industry research firm, expects gasoline engines to still account for around 50% of sales in the early 2030s.

“We still believe that 10 years from now, 50% of new vehicle sales will be gasoline,” said Mike Ramsey, vice president of Gartner’s CIO Research Group. “And if you look at the global footprint, that’s almost certainly going to be true, because you’re not going to see Nigeria, Iran, Indonesia, 50% market share for electric vehicles, period.”

Watch the video to learn more about Toyota’s unique approach to making electric vehicles.

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