Toyota chairman says electric vehicles will only reach 30% market share, at most.

January 24, 2024

Toyota chairman Akio Toyoda said EVs will only reach 30% market share at most with the rest taken up by hybrids, hydrogen fuel cell and fuel-burning cars, reported Bloomberg.

Akio Toyoda said during a lecture on the Toyota production system that electric vehicles should not be developed to the exclusion of other technologies, such as the hybrid and hydrogen-powered cars that his company has focused on, the Telegraph reported.

Toyoda called for a “multi-pathway approach,” adding: “The enemy is CO2.” Toyoda also said “Customers—not regulations or politics—should make that decision.”

Toyoda argued that electric cars’ appeal is limited because one billion people in the world still live without electricity, and EVs are also expensive and need charging infrastructure to operate.

The chief executive, whose grandfather founded the car company, insisted it was right that the company was focusing on alternative technologies, but admitted it was hard to “fight alone.” Toyoda also speculated that banks may soon stop lending money to companies that continue to build fossil fuel-powered engines.

Koji Sato, the car maker’s chief executive, last year promised Toyota would sell 1.5 million battery EVs a year by 2026, and 3.5 million by 2030.

Tesla, the world’s biggest EV producer on an annual basis, reported 1.8 million deliveries last year.