Nearly every automaker in the world is embracing the need to have at least one EV in its lineup. This doesn’t mean a plug-in hybrid, but a vehicle that runs entirely on EV power without any gasoline parachute included to offer the extended range desired. With so many automakers embracing the need to invest in and develop EV models for the market, it may seem curious that Toyota, the world’s largest automaker, doesn’t have a full EV in its lineup at all. What’s even more curious is the simple answer that gives the reason why Toyota doesn’t have an EV.
Toyota is Sticking to Hybrids
If all your friends jump off a bridge, do you need to as well? This logic may be simple enough for you, but if you look down at the river and see that the water isn’t deep enough for you to jump in and swim around, hopefully, you won’t jump. This logic is similar to what Toyota is using to explain why they don’t offer an EV for the market. Right now, Toyota is able to produce batteries for vehicles, but not at the capacity that Tesla or other automakers are able to do so.
The capacity issue is pretty simple to explain. The math shows that if Toyota were to use its batteries for electric vehicles, they would only be able to produce 28,000 EVs per year. On the other hand, using these batteries for hybrids allows them to produce 1.5 million hybrid cars for the market. From a sales standpoint, this makes perfect sense. Toyota is also one of the only automakers that still uses nickel-metal hydride batteries and these batteries have worked just fine for many years. They do have some lithium-ion batteries as well, but the NiMH batteries are cheaper to make and have proved to be durable.
How Does this Effect Emissions by the Toyota Vehicles
The decision to produce batteries and use them in hybrid vehicles versus the EV models is an easy one when it comes to emissions as well. While 28,000 EV models would produce zero emissions, there’s a greater emissions reduction with 1.5 million hybrid models in the market than these 28,000 EVs. This means that Toyota is taking the practical approach to using its batteries for the vehicles that we see and drive on the roads every day.
The Future Could Tell Another Story
Toyota hasn’t stated they won’t ever have an EV on the road and the current Toyota Mirai is a hydrogen fuel-cell vehicle that’s considered an electric model. It’s likely, if Toyota were to develop an EV, it would be in conjunction with Mazda and might even be offered as one of the Mazda brand vehicles that we see in the future. Toyota took the smart approach to the jump off the proverbial EV bridge by noticing the shallowness of the battery inventory and the right way to make use of the batteries in more vehicles rather than following the rest of the crowd.
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