Toyota Rewrites US$30B Electric Vehicle Rollout Plan To Counter The Tesla Threat

But Automologist HAROLD believes the solution lies elsewhere. 

New Toyota bz4x electric SUV, Toyota’s first 100% EV car (Image source: autodaily.com.au)

A decade ago, Toyota said Tesla’s technology was not a threat to them. In fact they took a stake in Tesla and the two collaborated to produce a battery-electric version of the RAV4. Toyota engineers concluded back then that there wasn’t much to learn from Tesla. The Japanese automaker discontinued the electric RAV4 in 2014 and sold its stake in Tesla in 2017. Now, Toyota is in a panic and scared, to say the least, of Tesla. It is dramatically rebooting its US$30 billion EV Rollout Plan and suspended 30 major EV projects already announced last December 2021.

A working group of trusted experts within Toyota has been charged with outlining plans by early next year for improvements to its existing EV platform or for a new architecture. Toyota said they remain committed to carbon neutrality but declined to comment on specific initiatives.

“In order to achieve carbon neutrality, Toyota’s own technology – as well as the work we are doing with a range of partners and suppliers – is essential,” the company said in response to questions from Reuters.

The real issue is cost of production. The review was triggered in part by the realisation that they were losing the factory cost war to Tesla when it comes to EVs, sources said. But, Toyota believes it has a strong chance to compete, with a more efficient manufacturing process, against Tesla and other EV makers.

The review team has been designated a “BR” or “business revolution” group within Toyota, a term used for major changes, including a revamp of its development and production processes. Toyota is working with suppliers and considering factory innovations to bring down costs, such as adopting something like Tesla’s Giga Press, a massive casting machine that has streamlined work in Tesla plants.

Another area under review is a more comprehensive approach to an EV-Hybrid thermal management—combining, for example, passenger air conditioning and electric powertrain temperature control—that Tesla has already mobilised.

Toyota may be criticized for being behind in the EV race, but the company has warned us against fully believing EV “evangelists”. Going fully electric may not be truly sustainable in the long-run and widespread adoption will soon create issues in raw material supply, and the whole programme will crumble in the middle of its full global take-off. This can be gleaned from statements by no less than Toyota Global CEO, the 66-year old Akio Toyoda.

The Wall Street Journal noted that during a press conference, the Toyota CEO did not mince words about his disdain for EVs. He believes that they’ll ruin businesses, require massive investments, and emit even more carbon dioxide than internal combustion engine vehicles.

“The current business model of the car industry is going to collapse,” he said. “The more EVs we build, the worse carbon dioxide gets…When politicians are out there saying, ‘Let’s get rid of all cars using gasoline’, do they understand this?”

Toyota Mirai, run fully by hydrogen-based fuel cell (Image source: Vision Photo)

In the long term, Toyota will surprise the world with its hydrogen engine. This would finally address criticism by green investors and environmental groups who argue that Toyota, once a darling of environmentalists, was slow to embrace EVs. When, one day, Toyota proves the EV “evangelists” wrong and promotes the real solution, hydrogen-fueled cars, this writer, who has been telling everyone that there is something “fishy” about this electric vehicle direction, will find great consolation.