Toyota Chairman: Shift to Electric Vehicles Will Not Be Rapid

Timothy Cain
by Timothy Cain

Mazda is planning for the internal combustion engine of 2050. Toyota is applying the Dynamic Force improvements that worked wonders on the 2018 Camry’s fuel economy ratings to V6 and V8 engines.

And electric cars?

“We’re skeptical there would be a rapid shift to pure electric vehicles, given questions over user convenience,” Toyota chairman Takeshi Uchiyamada tells CNBC.

There is a Toyota electric car in your future, Uchiyamada believes. But more likely than not, it’s not in your near future.

Toyota was and continues to be at the forefront of hybrid development. Through the first seven months of 2017, for example, 49 percent of the hybrids and plug-in hybrids sold in the United States of America were Toyota products, according to HybridCars.com.

Toyota’s hybrid total alone — 126,155 vehicles during that period — was three times stronger than the overall sales total at Volvo, which recently made headlines with a plan that will see all new vehicle introductions involve hybrid or electric powertrains beginning in 2019.

But on the pure electric front, Toyota’s chairman believes a few more breakthroughs are needed on the technological front if battery-powered vehicles are to become fully capable. “I must say up front that we’re not against electric vehicles,” says Uchiyamada. “But in order for electric vehicles to cover long distances, they currently need to be loaded with a lot of batteries that take a considerable amount of time to charge.”

“There’s also the issue of battery life,” Uchiyamada says, who cites battery limitations as a key reason consumers aren’t embracing electric vehicles.

Toyota does not currently offer a pure EV in the United States. The Mirai is a hydrogen fuel cell vehicle. The Prius Prime is a plug-in hybrid with 25 miles of electric range. Those two vehicles account for slightly less than 1 percent of the 1,604,847 total vehicles sold by Toyota in the U.S. through the first two-thirds of 2017.

In the United States, the EV market accounts for 1 out of every 200 new vehicles sold. The overwhelming majority of those EV sales take place at three automakers: Tesla, Nissan, and Chevrolet.

[Images: Toyota]

Timothy Cain is a contributing analyst at The Truth About Cars and Autofocus.ca and the founder and former editor of GoodCarBadCar.net. Follow on Twitter @timcaincars.

Timothy Cain
Timothy Cain

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  • Lou_BC Lou_BC on Sep 05, 2017

    "Shift to Electric Vehicles Will Not Be Rapid" Shocking!

  • Tosh Tosh on Sep 05, 2017

    Japan Inc is in cahoots with oil companies in exchange for military protection. Japanese fuel cell research -> protection racket.

  • The Oracle Well, we’re 3-4 years in with the Telluride and right around the time the long term durability issues start to really take hold. This is sad.
  • CoastieLenn No idea why, but nothing about a 4Runner excites me post-2004. To me, they're peak "try-hard", even above the Wrangler and Gladiator.
  • AZFelix A well earned anniversary.Can they also attend to the Mach-E?
  • Jalop1991 The intermediate shaft and right front driveshaft may not be fully engaged due to suspected improper assembly by the supplier. Over time, partial engagement can cause damage to the intermediate shaft splines. Damaged shaft splines may result in unintended vehicle movement while in Park if the parking brake is not engagedGee, my Chrysler van automatically engages the parking brake when we put it in Park. Do you mean to tell me that the idjits at Kia, and the idjit buyers, couldn't figure out wanting this in THEIR MOST EXPENSIVE VEHICLE????
  • Dukeisduke I've been waiting to see if they were going to do something special for the 60th Anniversary. I was four years old when the Mustang was introduced. I can remember that one of our neighbors bought a '65 coupe (they were all titled as '65 models, even the '64-1/2 cars), and it's the first one I can remember seeing. In the '90s I knew an older gentleman that owned a '64-1/2 model coupe with the 260 V8.
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