Toyota Motor, world’s largest carmaker which plans to launch at least 15 electric cars in next three years, thinks that battery EVs are not meant for everyone. Gill Pratt, Chief Scientist at Toyota Motor said that while a lot of people are concerned about the climate and want to reduce their carbon footprint, there are other means than just driving an electric vehicle.
Toyota believes in “diversity of drivetrains” to give customers different tools to reduce CO2, Pratt said. “It’s not for us to predict which solution is the best or say only this will work,” Pratt said during a discussion of electric vehicles.
Government incentives should be aimed at reducing carbon emissions, not picking which car technology is the best way to achieve those goals, he said.
Pratt’s statement was noticed at an event organized by Reuters on Thursday, during a discussion on EVs. His remarks matches with the President of Toyota Motor Akio Toyoda, who, including with some other Toyota executives, have propagated that options like petrol-hybrid or hydrogen fuel cell cars should be considered as an alternative for the bigger goal of achieving carbon neutrality too.
Toyota is one of the few carmakers around the world which does not have a very expansive plans to go all electric soon. The carmaker bets big on fuel cell vehicles instead. Though the carmaker has made a sizeable investment recently to produce EVs and batteries in United States, Toyota plans to launch only 15 fully electric cars by next three years among the 70 odd electrified models, which include hybrids and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, it aims to launch during the same timeframe.
(With inputs from agencies)
