Akio Toyoda, chairman of Toyota Motor Corporation of Japan, has once again launched a war of words, this time targeting electric vehicles. Recently, it was reported that Akio Toyoda publicly stated in an interview that electric vehicles are "low-grade products" and called on everyone to boycott such unenvironmentally friendly products. He believes that electric vehicles at this stage are not considered "new energy", because the electricity in many countries still comes from fossil fuels.
He warned that if all the world's cars were replaced with electric vehicles, they would need twice as much electricity as they are today, putting a huge strain on the grid and creating more carbon emissions. Akio Toyoda has also publicly criticized the excessive hype of pure electric vehicles many times before, believing that this practice will bring losses to enterprises, and said that it is impractical to promote pure electric vehicles to achieve carbon neutrality. During the Tokyo International Motor Show, he publicly stated that Japanese cars "must win" against Chinese (electric) cars.
Considering the national conditions of Japan, it may be understandable why Akio Toyoda resisted "electrocution" so strongly. Japan is an island nation surrounded by the sea and lacked resources, and this environment has made the Japanese national character have the gene of caution. They respect heritage and ingenuity, and are good at handling the details of problems perfectly. However, this Xi of "comfort and stability" extends to corporate culture, often inhibiting the development of open innovation.
In the face of drastic reform of the industrial structure, it is easy to touch the resistance in their bones. Although Akio Toyoda has rich management experience in the era of fuel vehicles, it is difficult to ensure that his sense of smell and judgment in vehicle electrification and intelligence can keep up with the rapid iteration of the times. Japanese car companies and even ** have secretly poked and poked to "boycott" the development of pure electric vehicles in the local market, the reason is very simple, that is, they do not want to be "stuck" by other countries in resources.
Japan is heavily dependent on imports for energy, and to generate electricity, it either relies on imported expensive natural gas or has to develop nuclear power. Japan has also encountered difficulties in raw materials for car manufacturing, such as lithium-ion batteries, which mainly come from lithium, cobalt, nickel and other resources, and Japan cannot fully support enterprises in the reserves of these metal resources. Therefore, Toyota has been developing hydrogen energy technology since 1992, hoping to master its "soul" by producing hydrogen by electrolysis of water.
However, this attitude is also very obvious in the pure electric market, and relevant data shows that in 2022, pure electric vehicles accounted for only 15%；At the level of charging infrastructure, there are currently less than 40,000 charging piles for electric vehicles in Japan, and this kind of stretching energy replenishment system has caused Japanese users who want to buy pure electric vehicles to have to be discouraged.
Akio Toyoda's boycott and investment in hydrogen energy is also due to concerns about the import of all core materials, because it is equivalent to putting the lifeblood of the country's economy in the hands of others. Although Akio Toyoda is resentful of pure electric vehicles, he cannot stop the general trend of electrification. In November this year, global sales of new energy vehicles reached a new high, reaching 1.4 million units, of which 10260,000 units are from the Chinese market, monopolizing the global market 2 3.
However, in the international market, the development of electric vehicles in China has encountered some resistance. Biden announced that all U.S. electric vehicles installed with Chinese-made battery components will not be eligible for full electric vehicle subsidies, many European countries have reduced or eliminated subsidies for electric vehicle purchases, and France's new electric vehicle subsidy rules have "turned away" Chinese-made electric vehicles. This kind of "economic sanctions" that are obviously aimed at China's export of electric vehicles are more worthy of our vigilance.