Despite the ongoing scramble towards electrified mobility, Toyota Motor Corporation is far from completely jumping on the bandwagon just yet. The world’s number two automaker believes that there is still a lot of work to be done before the industry fully embraces electric vehicles (EV).
Toyota continues its work on hydrogen fuel cells with the second-generation Mirai
A report by Reuters quotes Toyota President Akio Toyoda as saying that carbon neutrality is about keeping options open. “The enemy is carbon, not internal combustion engines,” he explained. “We shouldn’t focus on just one technology but make use of the technologies we already possess.”
Toyota’s sentiments are shared by many of its peers in the automotive sector, as only six carmakers pledged to phase out combustion engines by 2040 during the recent United Nations Climate Change Conference.
A major concern in the shift to electrics is the lack of infrastructure for charging EVs on the road, especially in developing countries such as the Philippines. This has contributed to range anxiety, preventing EVs from being more widely adopted by the public. Another is the current prohibitive pricing compared to combustion-powered models.
The company says shifting to hydrogen is less disruptive than full electrification, preventing mass layoffs
Part of hydrogen’s advantages is that it would cause less disruption in the automotive sector than a full switch to EVs. This is seen as especially significant in Japan, which employs 5.5 million auto workers and where mass layoffs are seen as a politically sensitive issue.
According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), EV registrations worldwide grew by 41 percent in 2020, despite the overall car market shrinking by around 16 percent.
Technical challenges continue to hound hydrogen development for cars, one of which is that hydrogen fuel cell engines cannot be classified as zero-emission as they are not completely carbon-free. While building electric car batteries entails a significant carbon footprint, EVs themselves emit no pollution during operation.
Toyota will be launching its bZ4x EV by mid-2022
Hydrogen cars also require bulky pressurized storage tanks for fuel, which compromises existing designs in terms of space and outside visibility.
Even as it aggressively pursues development around hydrogen technology, Toyota still plans to launch 15 EV models by 2025, investing $13.5 billion (more than Php 679 billion) over ten years to expand battery production.
“We don’t want to be seen as an EV maker, but as a carbon-neutral company,” said Toyota Vice Chairman Shigeru Hayakawa.
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