With the continuous development of the electric car industry, people are increasingly discussing pure electric models and hybrids. Tesla founder Musk has recently said that hybrid models should already be eliminated. In this regard, a Toyota executive has a different point of view.
Toyota’s executive vice president of North American sales, Jack Hollis, said in an interview Thursday local time that consumers may not shift from traditional fuel vehicles to pure electric vehicles as quickly as some car companies expect, and that hybrids may be a better solution for many consumers in the near future, the Wall Street Journal reported today.
Jack Hollis believes that the current electric vehicle market is not mature enough and that the high selling price of electric vehicles and poor public charging infrastructure may make consumers less receptive to electric vehicles except for early customers. In addition, as the price of raw materials such as lithium, cobalt and other key battery ingredients rises, electric vehicle companies may further increase the selling price of electric vehicles.
In the short term, Toyota will continue to develop hybrid models because they tend to be more affordable and don’t give consumers the kind of mileage anxiety that comes with driving a pure electric vehicle, Jack Hollis said. Compared to pure electric models, Jack Hollis believes that hybrids are more likely to appeal to consumers in the market.
In addition, although Jack Hollis is pessimistic about the electric vehicle market in the short term, he believes that the future will be purely electric and that Toyota is preparing for the explosion of the electric vehicle market. Late last year, Toyota announced that by 2030, Toyota will produce 3.5 million electric vehicles per year.
The Indonesian Ministry of Economy said at the end of July this year that Toyota Motor Corporation plans to invest 27.1 trillion rupees ($1.80 billion) in Indonesia over the next five years to produce electric vehicles (EVs). Toyota will follow the local government’s EV plan, investing in phases and starting with the development of hybrid vehicles.
