TOYOTA

Not everyone should drive electric cars as a way to fight climate change, Toyota chief scientist Gill Pratt said Thursday at an event promoted by Reuters

Pratt's comments, made at Reuters Events' Automotive Summit during a debate on electric vehicles, seem to amplify statements made last year by Toyota president Akio Toyoda.

Toyoda and other automaker executives said that electric vehicles will play an important role in reducing emissions, but that other solutions should be used, such as hybrid and hydrogen-cell powered vehicles.

At Thursday's event, Pratt said Toyota believes in "powertrain diversity" so that customers have different tools to reduce CO2 emissions. "It's not up to us to predict which solution is best or say that only one will work," he said.

Government incentives should be conducted to reduce carbon emissions, not to select which automotive technology is the best way to achieve this goal, added Pratt. He referred to proposals to ban engines powered by internal combustion, something that includes hybrids.

Toyota was among the top automakers that supported the government of former US President Donald Trump in its attempt to prevent California from setting its own zero-carbon requirement standards. The company, however, ended up giving up on support this year.

Toyota has said it plans to invest $13.5 billion by 2030 in batteries for electric cars, but so far its plans to launch new models with this technology seem relatively modest compared to US automakers such as General Motors and Ford, which promise to invest around 30 billion dollars each by 2025 in vehicle electrification.

Toyota executives continue to promote the merits of the brand's hybrid vehicles, which have been in the market for more than 20 years.

Reuters