QOTD: Will EV Shift Force People to Hold On to ICE Vehicles?

Tim Healey
by Tim Healey

A chief scientist at Toyota has said that forcing people to buy EVs could actually make them want to keep their internal-combustion engine vehicles longer.


I've heard a similar argument from a friend of mine -- he suggested that since ICE cars last longer now, people might be slow to switch to EVs.

Personally, as I've argued before, I think a mix of carrot and stick is needed to hasten the EV shift (if, of course, EVs are even the answer -- EVs aren't without their own problems that are detrimental to the environment, especially on the production side), with the carrot being directed at consumer (incentives/subsidies) and the stick being aimed at automakers (stricter fuel-economy regulations, for one example).

The whole article is worth a read (and covers some ground that should be familiar to regular TTAC readers). But I want to ask you -- is Gill Pratt right?

Sound off below.

[Image: Toyota]

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Tim Healey
Tim Healey

Tim Healey grew up around the auto-parts business and has always had a love for cars — his parents joke his first word was “‘Vette”. Despite this, he wanted to pursue a career in sports writing but he ended up falling semi-accidentally into the automotive-journalism industry, first at Consumer Guide Automotive and later at Web2Carz.com. He also worked as an industry analyst at Mintel Group and freelanced for About.com, CarFax, Vehix.com, High Gear Media, Torque News, FutureCar.com, Cars.com, among others, and of course Vertical Scope sites such as AutoGuide.com, Off-Road.com, and HybridCars.com. He’s an urbanite and as such, doesn’t need a daily driver, but if he had one, it would be compact, sporty, and have a manual transmission.

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4 of 126 comments
  • Daniel J Daniel J on May 22, 2023

    Why would I buy ANY car right now with the high prices and high interest rates? My 4 year old mazda has at least another 4 years in it.


    "The world needs immediate action" or some BS up above.


    And China says, hold my beer.


    It doesn't matter what the U.S. Does or any other single country. If the earth was really in "dire shape" we'd have more nuclear plants across the world. We'd have nothing but wind and solar farms across the world.


    One or two countries though can't do anything as long as China is putting out more than 1/4 of all air pollution.

  • Grg Grg on May 22, 2023

    ICE is almost done in China and that is sometimes a third of some companies business. It will be interesting to see which companies survive.

  • IBx1 IBx1 on May 23, 2023

    ICE cars today do not last as long as ones in the early 2010s and older because of the overload of useless technology. If your HVAC is controlled by a touchscreen, you're done. That said, there is no excuse for the issues EVs are having due to the same overload of useless technology. It's a battery, a motor, a potentiometer, and the same wheels, tires, brakes, and suspension we've known for half a century; there is nowhere to go wrong except by greedy choice.

  • ToolGuy ToolGuy on May 28, 2023

    CXXVIII comments?!?

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