EV mandates ‘impossible’ to meet, says top Toyota executive
Electric vehicle (EV) mandates imposed by governments on the automotive industry are “impossible,” a top Toyota executive said Friday.
At a virtual roundtable discussion, Toyota Motor North America COO Jack Hollis criticized policies like California’s, which require 35% of cars manufactured next year to be zero-emission vehicles. Under the California Air Resources Board’s “Advanced Clean Cars II” regulations, gas-powered vehicles can only make up 65% of production. By 2030, 100% of manufactured vehicles must be zero-emission.
Like California, the Biden-Harris administration issued its own mandate this year aimed at forcing EV production. The new rules from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) contain tight emissions standards that require 56% of new vehicle sales to be fully electric by 2032, with an additional 13% required to be hybrids.
‘Demand isn’t there’
But consumer demand for EVs has been plummeting, causing an upheaval in the auto industry.
“I have not seen a forecast by anyone . . . government or private, anywhere that has told us that that number is achievable,” Hollis said, according to CNBC. “At this point, it looks impossible. Demand isn’t there. It’s going to limit a customer’s choice of the vehicles they want.”
According to recent surveys, 46% of EV owners in the US are likely to buy a gas-powered vehicle for their next car purchase. At the same time, carmakers are being told to increase production to meet unrealistic quotas. Only California, Colorado, and Washington have been able to make EVs at least 20% of their retail sales this year. The national average is 9%.
‘It’s unnatural’
“It’s going to distort the industry. It’s going to distort the business. Why? Because it’s unnatural to what the current demand in the marketplace is,” added Hollis.
Automakers like Ford have been forced to face the harsh reality of low EV demand. Last month, the car giant posted a $1.2 billion loss on EVs for the third quarter after slashing production of its all-electric flagship vehicle, the F-150 Lightning pickup truck, by half. Other car manufacturers have had to pause EV investments and projects. In June, California-based EV maker Fisker announced it was filing for bankruptcy due to “market headwinds.”
In 2022, Toyota's then-CEO Akio Toyoda revealed that a “silent majority” of carmakers do not agree with the globalist vision of an EV-only future but are too afraid to say so.
"People involved in the auto industry are largely a silent majority," Toyoda told reporters during a recent trip to Thailand. "That silent majority is wondering whether EVs are really OK to have as a single option. But they think it’s the trend so they can’t speak out loudly."
