The head of Toyota Motor has criticised what he described as excessive hype over electric vehicles, saying advocates failed to consider the carbon emitted by generating electricity and the costs of an EV transition.
Japan would run out of electricity in the summer if all cars were running on electric power, and the infrastructure needed to support a fleet consisting entirely of EVs would cost Japan as much as JPY37trn (US$358bn), the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) quoted Toyoda as telling a news conference in his capacity as chairman of the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association.
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If Japan was too quick to ban petrol powered cars, "the current business model of the car industry is going to collapse," causing the loss of millions of jobs, he said.
Toyoda said he feared government regulations would make cars a "flower on a high summit," out of reach for the average person.
Despite Tesla's success with BEV developments, Toyota continued to insist that BEVs were not yet ready, a stance that suggests caution about investing in Toyota at this time, said an analysis published recently on Seeking Alpha.
