Is Toyota playing catch up in the electric vehicle, EV department? It seems it might be doing it as it focused solely on hybrids instead of ramping up pure electrics until now.
The gist is that there is no perfect solution when you are a gigantic internal combustion engine, ICE maker whose tools are for creating gas cars if you need to turn to the electric drive. The infrastructure costs, the retooling and the technology involved would be too much for any car maker, let alone in this financial turmoil to consider. However, we can always wonder about the approach some of these car manufacturers take when dealing with tomorrow’s solutions.
From Hybrids To Pure Electrics. The general belief in the automobile industry is that hybrid vehicles, HEV are a stepping stone to more advance forms, such as plug-in hybrids, PHEV that use a series platform design where only the electric engine drives the car, leaving a gas engine tweaked for performance and less pollution than a regular parallel system HEV. But if these still pollute, the final step would have to be a pure EV. By now, you know the drill, EVs are slowed down by the current state of batteries, too heavy and too expensive to make them profitable.
Balancing The Business Model. The ideal business model for an auto maker would be to continue selling highly fuel efficient ICE technology, that would fund continuing advancing HEV designs with the introduction of PHEV that would ultimately fund research into raising battery energy density and price for pure EVs. If that is the ideal scenario, not too many auto makers are following it.
Asia, Europe And The U.S.. Toyota and Honda are happy building mild HEVs, while talking about future EV promises. Toyota is saying it will mass produce plug-in hybrid vehicles in 2012, projecting a first-year output of about 20,000 to 30,000 units, according to Reuters. Interestingly enough, Nissan is fully embracing the future of EVs by beating Toyota by two years. Smaller companies such as Mitsubishi and Subaru are already producing their EV and seem to want to bypass the HEV stage altogether. Europe is already starting the recharging infrastructure for EVs and only Ford seems to have a comprehensive alternative car plan.
It is difficult at this stage to see who is right and wrong, as the careful balance between feasibility and market share in these turbulent times are very tricky to maintain. Somehow, we bet that companies that are already working on EVs will have a lead tomorrow.