While a number of automakers are rushing to churn out new electric vehicles, Toyota has been far more cautious.
Some people have criticized this approach, but the company is now revealing a bit more about their reasoning. In particular, the automaker only expects electric and fuel cell vehicles to make up 15% of their U.S. sales by 2030.
Toyota has far greater expectations for hybrids and plug-in hybrids as they believe 55% of U.S. sales will come from these types of vehicles by 2030. If both projections pan out, 70% of Toyota and Lexus sales will come from electrified vehicles by the end of the decade.
The same holds true globally as the automaker is expecting to sell approximately eight million electrified vehicles by 2030. Of that, just two million are expected to be EVs and FCVs.
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Those are somewhat surprising projections and Toyota Motor North America’s chief administrative officer, Chris Reynolds, said “Although some people believe concentrating resources on one possible solution will achieve the goal more quickly, we believe investing in many different solutions will actually be a faster way to achieve carbon neutrality around the world.”
Toyota went on to note they have more electrified vehicles on the road than all other automakers combined, as their eco-friendly journey started with the RAV4 EV in 1997 and kicked into high gear with the launch of the Prius. Today, the company offers 17 electrified vehicles in the United States and teased more are on the way.
Toyota went on to explain their approach seeks “steady and substantial carbon reductions every year until the recharging infrastructure and costs of BEVs make them an attractive, affordable choice for all consumers everywhere.” In effect, they don’t want to be too far ahead of the curve when it comes to electric vehicles.
That being said, Toyota has an assortment of electric vehicles on the horizon. The bZ4X concept was introduced earlier this year and previews an electric crossover that will go into production in 2022. When the concept was unveiled, the company announced plans to offer 15 dedicated electric vehicles including seven which will wear the bZ (Beyond Zero) moniker.
Lexus has also started to embrace electric vehicles as the UX 300e was introduced in 2019 and the LF-Z concept hints at an electric future for the brand. Speaking of the latter, the company has previously said they intend to offer electric variants of all their models by 2025.
