Hybrid cars that combine a combustion engine with an electric motor that can be charged with a plug, for example, will play a crucial role in reducing emissions in global transport. Toyota, the world’s largest automaker, said in a statement.
He indicates that it will be a major task to really reduce emissions from cars in Southeast Asia and Africa, for example, and sees an essential role for hybrid models there.
Hayakawa points out that fully electric vehicles are well suited for high-income countries and have a good infrastructure to charge them. He mentioned Europe and the United States, where great strides have been and are being made in that regard. But he wonders aloud whether this will succeed in Southeast Asia and Africa in the coming years. “Will these markets accept fully battery-electric cars in the future? I don’t know, but the next five, ten, twenty years will be difficult,” said Hayakawa.
The markets mentioned above will be largely dependent on fossil fuels and the existing infrastructure for a long time to come, and then a hybrid car will be easier to get on the market and use. Hybrid models also generally cost less. “In that sense, they are better suited to developing regions,” said the Toyota driver.
Environmental groups have heavily criticized Toyota for its long-standing position that non-electric cars will continue to play a lasting role in auto markets. However, major car manufacturers such as American General Motors aim to offer exclusively electric vehicles in about twenty years.
“We are written about as being against electric cars and obsessed with combustion engines, but that’s not true,” Hayakawa said. Toyota, for example, wants to bring seven fully electric models to the market by 2025.