Toyota chairman Akio Toyoda predicts battery electric vehicles will only ever capture 30 percent of the car market.
Hybrids, hydrogen fuel cell and gas-powered combustion engine cars will take the rest, he said during a press conference in Japan this month.
Customers want choice, the grandson of Toyota’s founder said – but he also pointed out that a billion people in the world don’t have any access to electricity.
As such, Toyoda – who was CEO from 2009 to 2023 – emphasized that Toyota is making various types of cars to suit the needs of different customers.
He pointed out that outspoken advocates of battery-only electric cars – potentially hinting at the likes of Tesla – have an all-or-nothing strategy, whereas Toyota has its eggs in in multiple baskets.
students of history will know that in the early 1900s when gas powered vehicles were in their infancy there were electric cars made and sold in England (maybe other places too, but I know def. in England) they were ok for in city transport but did not prosper because the battery life was not long enough…..no way was every figured out how to overcome this issue, look it up.
give me one but you pay the electric