Toyota president continues to champion the idea that people hate EVs despite epic waiting lists

Toyota boss Akio Toyoda makes no secret of his dislike for electric vehicles. This weekend he offered this latest issue:

“People who work in the auto industry represent a silent majority,” Toyoda told reporters in Thailand. according to the Wall Street Journal. “This silent majority is questioning whether it is a good thing to have electric vehicles as the only option. But they think it’s fashion, so they can’t say it out loud.”

He just might be right! I wouldn’t be surprised if most auto industry executives don’t like electric vehicles. After all, the old car industry was too late with electric vehicles. In cases where they had promising products, they were left to wither on the vine. In other cases, the products rolling off the assembly line were clearly the minimum necessary to comply with the law. They would probably rather continue making petrol and diesel vehicles, and if they disappear they would at least have an alternative to batteries, which have become an industry-wide problem as supply chains struggle.

Toyota’s electric intransigence may seem strange to some. The company pioneered the mass-market hybrid-electric powertrain that debuted in the Prius and spread across its lineup. From that he has almost certainly gained decades of experience with electric motors, batteries and battery management systems, which are also the most important components of an electric powertrain.

But while hybrids seemed like a major step forward, they weren’t a radical departure for an industry accustomed to constantly tweaking the internal combustion engine to make up for its shortcomings. Hybridization added electric motors to get the car moving and assist at low speeds, where fossil fuel engines are less efficient; did nothing to eliminate the internal combustion engine.

The ranks of every mainstream automaker are lined with mechanical engineers, many of whom are adept at squeezing extra tenths of a percent out of internal combustion engine technology. Even though they are able to develop electric motors, this is not their core competence. The shift to electric vehicles would put electrical engineers in the driver’s seat.

From this perspective, Toyota’s introduction of hybrid technology should not be seen as a springboard to an electric future, but as another attempt to extend the reign of the internal combustion engine.