TOKYO— Toyota Motor Corp. said most of its U.S. vehicles would still run on gasoline a decade from now because it doesn’t think fully electric vehicles will have caught up in cost and convenience.
Toyota doubled down on its commitment to a technology it pioneered, hybrid vehicles, which are fueled with gasoline but also have an electric motor that raises fuel efficiency. The company projected that in 2030, slightly more than half of the vehicles it sells in North America would be hybrids, while around 30% would run on traditional gasoline engines and the remainder would be fully electric.
“If you take a snapshot of 2030, the price of battery EVs and the provision of infrastructure around the globe probably won’t have advanced all that much,” said Toyota executive Jun Nagata at a news conference Wednesday. “Hybrids and plug-in hybrids will be easier for customers to buy.” Plug-in hybrids have both gasoline tanks and batteries that can be charged at home or at public charging stations.
Toyota’s plan contrasts with rivals including domestic competitor Honda Motor Co. The new chief executive of Honda, Toshihiro Mibe, said in April that he wanted 40% of Honda’s vehicles to be fully electric by 2030, both globally and in North America. By 2040, all Honda vehicles globally will be fully electric, Mr. Mibe said.
And the same will be true in two decades
The same people dumping on Toyota for saying this are the same people who wouldn't know what to do, or how to act, when the power grid goes out and we go back to the stone age. It's like climbing a mountain without looking down at your footing and keeping your eyes on the summit.
Hybrid is a good temp solution.
If the current administration doesn’t like what it reads here, they can just add in a free EV for every American in their next multi-trillion package they foist on an unsuspecting public.