A top Toyota scientist warned against the sudden push toward electric vehicles for now, ahead of a Group of Seven summit in Japan.
Last month, environment and energy ministers at the G7 conference in Hokkaido, Japan, pledged to reduce vehicle emissions by 2035, without announcing any deadlines or short-term goals in the meantime, reported Bloomberg.
Accelerating the transition toward expensive battery electric vehicles (BEV) would encourage drivers to hold on to their combustion-powered cars for longer, said Gill Pratt, Toyota’s chief scientist and CEO of the Toyota Research Institute, to reporters in Hiroshima on May 18.
The Toyota executive still called for subsidies and restrictions to reduce the use of combustion cars and make EVs more attractive to customers who can afford them….